Cebu City’s tourism body told to move out of office intended for DepEd clinic

Local

A FLOODED basement has become the makeshift home of the Department of Education (DepEd) Health and Nutrition Clinic in Cebu City for over seven years.

The ground floor space originally intended for the clinic remains occupied by the city’s tourism office.

Now, the Cebu City Local School Board (LSB) is urging the city government to return the office to DepEd, citing health and safety concerns for thousands of public school students and teachers.

In Resolution No. 001-JUL2025, unanimously approved by the LSB and endorsed to the Cebu City Council, the board called on the Cebu City Tourism Commission to vacate the office space located at the DepEd compound in Barangay Zapatera, which it has occupied since 2018 under a five-year compromise agreement that expired in November 2024.

The council noted the resolution during its regular session this week.

“This is not just about office space. This is about the health and welfare of over 176,000 students and 7,000 teachers and staff,” said Dr. Nimfa Bongo, Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent and LSB co-chair.

The resolution follows the latest basement flooding caused by heavy rain on July 16, which damaged medical equipment and supplies used by the clinic’s staff.

The clinic is currently manned by 16 nurses, two dentists, one physician, and several support personnel responsible for implementing DepEd’s school-based health and nutrition programs across 129 public schools.

According to the LSB, the tourism office was allowed to use the ground floor in 2018 despite objections from the DepEd Division Office.

The arrangement, facilitated by then City Councilor Joy Pesquera, was supposed to be temporary.

“Unsa may mas importante? Ang tourism office or atong mga teachers? To me it is very basic,” said Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Education and led a recent site inspection after the flood.

Osmeña emphasized that the space had been constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for DepEd use and was later taken over by the Tourism Commission without long-term planning.

He added that either the office should be flood-proofed through proper drainage and structural improvements, or the tourism office should be relocated.

“What’s more important—the tourism office or the help of our public school teachers?” Osmeña said.

He also noted that while tourism programs are valuable, they “do not help the poor” in the same way basic education services do.

In an interview, former councilor and education committee chair Joy Augustus Young, now working as a consultant, backed the call for turnover.

Young recalled that the clinic was originally located on the third floor, then temporarily moved to the basement during the annex building’s construction, with the plan that it would occupy the new ground-floor office.

“Muingon man gud sila nga city property. But this is an education compound,” Young said, referring to the land’s ownership.

He stressed that despite the city’s legal claim to the property, its use was always intended for DepEd operations.

Young said he would defer to Osmeña on the timeline, but emphasized the need to resolve the issue in favor of public school health workers.

Copies of the LSB resolution have been sent to Mayor Nestor Archival, the City Council, and the DepEd Cebu City Division.(TGP)