The Department of Education (DepEd) has established a command center at its Ecotech facility in Cebu Tuesday to secure information on the whereabouts of its personnel. Interim offices have been set up for each of the Eastern Visayas divisions that are still not operational: Leyte, Tacloban, E. Samar, Catbalogan, Biliran, Borongan and Baybay.

Each interim office is manned by staff from the Cebu office and tasked to establish contact with all personnel – from the superintendent to school heads – and get updates.

Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro FSC reminded everyone of the urgency to account for people saying “Before anything else, we look for people. List all regions. Regions, contact divisions; divisions, contact schools; schools, establish contact with teachers and staff. First things first, tao muna (people first).”

Luistro then instructed officials to plan for the resumption of classes when everyone has been accounted for. “The best way for kids to recover is to bring them back to their routine as soon as possible – and that is to bring them to school. There is no need to conduct classes right away. Let them play. Do activities.”

An operations center has also been set up at Leyte National High School in Tacloban where teachers and other personnel can report. Luistro is asking Eastern Visayas personnel to report as soon as they can. “We need to know if you’re ok.”

The Ecotech Command Center in Lahug, Cebu can be contacted through: (032)254-6747, (032)414-7320, and (0917)309-0583.