The recent continuous and heavy monsoon rains that have caused major damage in some barangays of Miagao and nearby municipalities in Southern Iloilo have not spared UPV Miagao campus. The Staff Housing and the Regional Research Center’s facilities - its newly constructed building and the rooms it temporarily occupies in the Freshwater Aquaculture Station near the CDMO - were among those most affected.
Low lying portions of the Staff Housing area at the back of the Common Dining Hall were waterlogged. Some vehicles were submerged in water but no residents were hurt in the flash flood.
Water penetrated into the laboratory at the FAS which is located at the slope of a hill; but the pieces of equipment were spared from damage because these were placed above the floor.
Water also flowed from the ground into the ground floor of the RRC building. The Food Science Laboratory which is currently being readied was affected but the equipments are safe.
Soil erosion and scouring near the portion of the RRC building complex that is still under construction have been observed.
The RRC complex is located beside a hill. The lowest point of the new road network is also near it. The Department of Public Works and Highways that undertook the project built a cross drain very close to the building. The cross drain was to connect to the drainage canal to be built as part of the RRC Building Project Phase 3 that has just started. The heavy rains in the past several days have emptied a great volume of water into the ground near the building causing a scour.
While substantially completed, the road project that follows the rolling terrain of the new academic core of UP Visayas where the RRC and the School of Technology are already located is not finished yet. UPV has prepared temporary and permanent remedial measures regarding these construction issues and has coordinated with the DPWH and road network contractor.
UP Visayas has also mobilized its Logistics Committee and the Security Service Force to assist Staff Housing residents in case the heavy rains continue.
That hazards brought on by nature has come at a time of the COVID 19 pandemic is very unfortunate. UPV administration reiterates its commitment to the safety and welfare of all its constituents as well as to the security and protection of its physical assets and resources.
