No official announcement yet on the suspension of classes in U.P. Diliman, other colleges

Today is the morning after President Benigno S. Aquino III's bleak State of the Nation Address (SONA).

It is an equally bleak morning with relentless rain from Typhoon Juaning. The kind that builds up into rivulets quickly; turning into raging torrents and flooded streets, stranding students and teachers everywhere. The Department of Education has already announced that there will be no classes at the grade school and high school levels.

Consequently U.P. Diliman Chancellor Caesar Saloma has announced that the U.P. Intergrated School (UPIS) will not hold classes at the grade school and high school levels.

The Diliman Diary called up the Office of Chancellor Saloma at 9:30 a.m. today to find out if the Deped rule applied to U.P. Diliman students. However, we were told that they were waiting for an official announcement from the Commission on Higher Education and Development (CHED).

We called up the office of CHED Chair Patricia Licuanan at 10:00 a.m. and we were told that CHED did not make the announcement in this case, but PAGASA. We called PAGASA and they said that had no announcement to make regarding the suspension of classes; because they only monitored and reported the weather and had no authority to suspend classes.

As a general rule, classes at all levels are suspended if PAGASA determines that the typhoon signal is at No. 3. However, it will be recalled that Typhoon Ondoy was officially a Signal No. 1 Typhoon, leaving office workers, students, staff and faculty stranded in the Diliman area.

We will continue to monitor developments. For daily updates, please check our Facebook page (just type in Diliman Diary in Facebook's search).