A. SCHOOL CURRENT SITUATION

Historical Background of Barangay Fuga Island

Fuga Island is an island of north Luzon, part of the Babuyan Archipelago, which is the second northernmost island group of the Philippines. It has an area of 70 square kilometers(27 sq mi) , with 530 househols,585 family heads and a population of 2,225 person as of 2019 census. It composed of six(6) villages which includes: Naguilian (Musa) village on the southern coast where the old ruin church was located, Mudoc Village on the western coast where the private airport and Frazer house located, Sarongan Village on the southeast coast, Simmabang Village on the eastern coast and its extension at Calinebneb seaport and the Bubog Village on the northernmost part of the island. The highest peak is Mount Nanguringan in the northeast, with an elevation of 191 meters (627ft).

Along with the neighboring islets of Barit ( 7 square kilometers – 2.7 sq. miles)and Mabag, it constitutes one of 42 barangays of the municipality of Aparri, Cagayan. It is the only island of the Babuyan Archipelago under the jurisdiction of a mainland municipality, whereas all other islands form municipality of Calayan Cagayan.

The island still retains a traditional culture, a manifestation of which is the annual construction of a small straw imitation boat that is floated out to sea. The tradition began in 1656 when island almost invaded by British ships, prompting islanders to make a similar replica of a boat until such time that the islanders can afford to buy a big sizes of motor boat in which they are using now to transport their products in the mainland like in Claveria, Cagayan.

The people are purely Ilokano. Since the place is a flat land and is surrounded by an ocean , people are engaged in fishing and farming. Carabao and horseback riding and walking are the only ways of transportation of the people although there are some now who can afford to buy motorcycles.

Fuga Island faces many challenges but still it is rich in social, spiritual and government concerns. The presence of schools, like the Bubog Primary School, Simmabang Elementary School, Naguilian Elementary School and Mudoc Primary School are grounds for the educational growth of the people.

Presently, Fuga Island is owned by Fuga Island Holdings. It was formerly owned by the Dominican Order under the encomienda system during the Spanish period eventually returned to the Filipinos after the signing of the treaty of Paris. Former owners were Sycip family, Alfonso Lim, Tan Yu and now Fuga Island Holdings of the Serafica Family. The first land title was issued in 1908 under the Original Certificate Title Number two (2) . the government of the Philippines, in recognition of the development of this private land declared by national legislation that Fuga Island and its surrounding mainland port facilities be designated an economic zone as part of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone (CEZA) and Freeport under Republic Act No. 7922.

Despite of many challenges that Fuga Island is facing now, there is clear manifestation that Fuga Island is still a paradise ….. a peaceful and a conducive place to live in.

B. SCHOOL PROFILE

Historical Background of the School

Bubog Primary School is a learning institution mandated by the Philippine Constitution to promote and protect the right of all citizens to quality education and take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all. Section 2 of the same article states, “the state shall establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of all the people and society.”

The Revised Basic Education Curriculum has been implemented in response to call for the times of producing learners with multiple intelligences through non-traditional way of teaching and assessing learners’ performance. In support to the new curriculum, policies and guidelines from the national, regional, division and district offices have been issued for the attainment of the ultimate goal of education which is quality education.

Bubog Primary School (BPS) is located in one of the Islands of Babuyan Group of Islands and that is Fuga Island. It is situated 3 km near Simmabang Elementary School. The mode of transportation to reach the school is horseback riding or motorboat. It can also be reached by hiking. There are no private elementary and secondary schools near the school. It is 330 km from the Division Office of Cagayan. The mode of transportation going to the division office is: First, hiking or take a horseback or carabaoback riding to reach the port, Second, ride on a boat(either big or fishing boat) to reach the mainland, then ride on bus or van to reach the division office.

As regards to natural hazards, the school has experienced drought, earthquakes and tropical storms which usually affect the place, however, adaptability and preparedness to such environmental hazards were employed to reduce the risks especially to school children such as information dissemination on disaster preparedness and series of drills.

The school has been established in the year 2000 with only one(1) substandard building composing two classrooms under the initiative of Mrs. Crisencia C. Dela Cruz who served as the first lone teacher of the school. The first room was occupied by the grade 1 class and the other room was occupied by the grade two class. Bubog PS was established due to the needs of the learners who were always walk 3 kilometers everyday – morning and afternoon just to reach the school where they enrolled before.

Because of its increasing population, parents and teachers initiated to build another makeshift – substandard size of school building that houses grades 3&4 and grade 5. The following year 2017, another school building was constructed that houses now the grade 5 class and the grade 6 class. That was the time that Bubog Primary School became a complete elementary composing Kinder up to grade 6 class.

One hundred fifteen (115) learners were enrolled in this institution and five (5) teachers including the officer in – charge. The school’s learning classroom size is not suitable to hold a multi grade classes. There is a shortage of seats and tables for all the pupils but to temporarily address these problems, some tables were repaired and the chairs were brought by some pupils just for them to have chairs.

The main source of water in the school is a deep well and a natural source which are used functionally in handwashing and toilet use. These water sources are within the vicinity of the school. On the other hand, there is a functional individual toilet for male and female.

For the learning facilities, there is a shortage of books specially grade 5 and grade six. The school is also a recipient of DepEd Computerization program (DCP) with 7 tablets and 1 laptop.

For the physical facilities, the school prioritize the repair of all classrooms followed by the construction of school stage and ground/land improvement.

Fort the health and safety of learners, at the start, some learners fall outside the normal health status. On the other hand, as of March, there is already no learners fall outside the normal health status. How? The school has conducted some interventions to reduce the number of wasted pupils by introducing to them the healthy foods that they need to eat. These foods are so much available within the community. It is noted that there is no canteen within the school.

A very few percentage of pupils are affected by the usual health problems such as dental caries, coughs and colds, minor injuries, skin diseases, toothache, and stomachache. To minimize these cases, after recess is tooth brushing and hand washing are properly implemented aside from inculcating in their mind the healthy foods to eat in order to address these health conditions.

There are minor cases of child bullying (e.g. petty quarrels among the pupils) in the school however these cases are immediately resolved through the rigid monitoring of the school’s Child Protection Committee and strict implementation of the Child Protection policies .