After major quakes, ESSU set to reopen campuses for in-person classes

BORONGAN CITY — Face-to-face classes will resume at Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) across all its campuses in January, nearly three months after major earthquakes caused structural damage to several university buildings.

ESSU President Dr. Andres Pagatpatan Jr. said the decision to resume in-person classes before the end of January 2026 revokes an earlier Board of Regents (BoR) announcement that extended the asynchronous learning setup across the entire university.

The university has been implementing asynchronous classes for students and faculty, alongside skeletal work arrangements for non-teaching personnel, since Oct. 13 to ensure safety while structural assessments of buildings were still pending.

The BoR’s earlier decision to extend asynchronous classes was based on a rapid assessment conducted by a special task force composed of in-house engineers and other experts.

Pagatpatan said the university administration has earmarked more than P5.2 million for the structural analysis of damaged buildings and an additional P3.5 million for repair works.

ESSU has also allocated P13.7 million for the construction of three temporary structures, each with eight classrooms, made of tubular materials. These will be used by the College of Education, the College of Business Management and Accountancy, and the College of Engineering at the main campus.

The three academic buildings, along with the administration building, showed potential structural integrity issues after cracks appeared on walls and posts following the earthquakes.

The magnitude 6.9 Bogo earthquake on Sept. 30 and the magnitude 7.4 Manay, Davao Oriental quake on Oct. 10 were felt at least at Intensity IV across most parts of Eastern Samar, including aftershocks.

Since November, Pagatpatan has conducted ocular inspections across different ESSU campuses to assess the condition of buildings and facilities.

ESSU is the largest university in Eastern Samar, with more than 12,000 students spread across seven campuses. Its main campus in Borongan City has the highest student population.

Pagatpatan added that the administration is also studying the possible implementation of a double-single session, dividing classes into morning and afternoon schedules to accommodate students in available classrooms.