BFMO shares plans for renovation of buildings for AY 2024-2025

Originally published in Heraldo Filipino Volume 38, Double Issue

 

The Buildings and Facilities Maintenance Office (BFMO) discussed the renovation of Ugnayang La Salle (ULS), highlighting the challenges of the process, as well as the incident that prompted the renovation, and the future plans for the buildings for the for the academic year (AY) 2024-2025.

In an interview with The HERALDO FILIPINO, BFMO Unit Head – Civil and Sanitary Section Engr. Danilo Serrato discussed the reason why the renovation of ULS has limited access to the student body. 

“Okay, so nagkaroon kasi ng… nagkaroon ng incident sa ULS. Actually, parang graduation nga ata… ‘yung existing before na wood flooring is matagal na rin kasi siya,” he stated. He shared that the wood flooring of the building, which has been in place for over 10 years, has deteriorated and is no longer safe for students because they found numerous issues including parts that were worn out and had protruded nails.

 

Challenges in the renovation process

Meanwhile, Serrato stated that the Campus Safety Officer, Gideon Legaspi, conducted an inspection, and it was discovered that the existing floor of the ULS was also unsafe for use. “So nag-decide na baklasin na siya, tapos palitan ng bago,” he added. 

Their ideal option was to choose wood flooring, but for the time being, it was decided to use rubberized paint. This was due to the high cost of reverting back to wood flooring, which would have amounted to approximately P10,000,000.

Serrato also clarified that the graduation incident that he was referring to was not from 2022, but rather from the previous year, 2023. He noted that there had been previous incidents where the wood flooring elevated in some areas, or where nails had become loose but aside from it, there are no other parts of ULS that were being renovated. 

He also added that there were no other factors apart from the wood flooring that contributed to the need for renovation of the building. It was solely due to the unsafe state of the existing floor, which was deemed unsafe for use by students.

 

Renewal of the buildings in the University

When asked about their renovation plans for other buildings within University aside from ULS, Serrato shared that there are future plans for them. The wood flooring is originally designed for ULS because this is commonly used by varsity athletes who practice. 

However, there is a long-term plan in place for the building. The plan is to change the existing pool into a multi-level ULS, with the pool on the bottom level and the event center on the second level. “Magiging covered na ‘yung pool,” he shared, mentioning that the third level of the ULS will be for the courts and the fourth level will be for offices. The reason they have plans is because if they revert the building’s flooring back to wood, eventually it will get damaged due to events being held in the building.

Serrato mentioned that as per Rino Daniel, who has been in the BFMO for a long time, this plan is the same as Brother Gus Boquer FSC’s original plan. Their plan is to create a court that is solely for sports, and the event center will be on the second level. In this way, the court and the event center are separate, and sports events would not interfere with each other.

Meanwhile, there are plans for multi-story parking levels, as the current parking situation is becoming insufficient. However, they are not sure if they will also pursue their plan to renovate Mariano Trias Hall (MTH) into a similar structure to ULS, with wood flooring. As for Ladislao Diwa Hall (LDH) and Felipe Calderon Hall (FCH), they intend to demolish them and build a structure called ‘two-story‘, similar to Candido Tirona Hall (CTH) with a two-level building, but there is still uncertainty whether MTH will be included. “Kasi yung tatlong ‘yun… old buildings na parang 1980s pa yung mga building na… ‘yun lang naman ‘yung mga future plans,” he added.

 

BFMO’s plans for AY 2024-2025

As the renovation process continues at ULS, the students can expect to see changes in the building’s flooring when it is completed in June 2024. It will be replaced with rubberized paint as part of the renovation plans, which may take some getting used. “…baka mag-[isip] yung mga students na originally naka-wood flooring na, tapos ngayon naka-rubberized na, parang instead [na] mag-upgrade tayo, nag-downgrade pero kung malalaman kasi nila yung future plans, mas maiintindihan nila [kung] bakit ‘yun lang muna,” he stated.

According to the estimated price, using wood flooring would have cost the University nearly P10,000,000, whereas the rubberized paint option was much cheaper, costing approximately more than P1,000,000. However, the P9,000,000 can be added to the long-term plan of multi-level ULS.

In terms of future plans for ULS, Serrato shared that BFMO is still in the planning stages and that any decisions of them would first need to be approved by the concerned office and the Construction Committee. The estimated budget for the future plans would be around P400,000,000, which would require finding additional funding.