Metro Manila, Philippines – Local government units may be an option to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to build classrooms, the Department of Education (DepEd) said, as the latter may be swamped with other infrastructure projects.
During the House appropriations panel deliberation on DepEd’s budget on Wednesday, Sept. 3, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio noted that around 10,000 classrooms were built annually during the past administrations, but it dropped to less than 200 under the leadership of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Tinio asked Education Secretary Sonny Angara for the reason behind the slowdown.
“I think starting in the late 2010, around 2017 onwards, DPWH na po ang nagko-construct ng [handles construction of] classrooms. I think there was a time when it was concurrent, meaning both DepEd and DPWH were building the classrooms,” Angara said.
“But in recent years, 2024, 2025, there have been provisions in the General Appropriations Act that say DPWH will do all of the new constructions as well as the repair,” he added.
The secretary said the DPWH may be having a hard time juggling projects.
“There are also capacity issues with respect to the agency in charge of construction which is the DPWH at nakita natin [we saw] there’s a lot of time consumed by that agency because they’re also tasked to build bridges, build roads,” Angara said, as Tinio noted the agency is also responsible for flood control infrastructure.
To address the backlog, Angara said DepEd is proposing that it be allowed to download funds to cities and provinces to help in the construction of classrooms.
“In terms of capacity, it (DPWH) has the most number of engineers, it has the boots on the ground so to speak. Pero siguro hindi niya kaya mag-isa [But we think it cannot stand alone],” the education chief said.
The DepEd has a backlog of 165,000 classrooms, and Angara admitted this cannot be wiped out until the administration’s term ends in 2028.
