Insurance claims for damaged classrooms take a year – officials

Metro Manila, Philippines – Officials revealed it takes more than a year to claim insurance to rebuild damaged classrooms.

Senate finance committee chairman Win Gatchalian disclosed this during the second day of plenary deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget of ₱6.793 trillion on Monday, Nov. 17.

“Ang good news, kaya naman with the current ₱2 billion premium payments to GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) to cover all the claims of DepEd (Department of Educaion) in so far as classrooms is concerned,” Gatchalian said, relaying information from economic managers. 

[Translation: The good news is that, with the current ₱2 billion in premium payments to GSIS, all DepEd’s claims related to classrooms are covered.]

But there’s a catch. 

“Ang bad news, matagal lang ma-access [The bad news is that it takes a long time to access],” he added. 

He explained that the Department of Education has to go to the site, estimate the cost of damage, and submit it to GSIS, which will then conduct its own inspection.

“Typically umaabot daw ng more than a year para makuha yung claims

Iyan yung isang problema dahil kung one year mong makukuha yung claims, in the meantime wala tayong classrooms,” Gatchalian said. 

[Translation: Typically, it reportedly takes more than a year to receive the claims. That’s a problem because if it takes a year to get the claims, in the meantime, we have no classrooms.]

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who raised the issue of damaged classrooms, asked whether the government could find ways to fast-track the process.

Gatchalian said this is why the funds for repair and maintenance next year were increased.

He also acknowledged the need to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the national indemnity insurance program, adding that the Bureau of the Treasury recognized some “birth pains,” given that it is a new program.

Gatchalian earlier said that more than 5,000 classrooms were damaged by recent storms, on top of the 147,000-classroom backlog.

The Senate finance committee has allocated ₱19.3 billion more to the ₱48.7 billion approved by the House of Representatives to build up to 27,000 new classrooms next year.

The proposed education sector budget stands at ₱1.38 trillion, representing the lion’s share of the national budget and 4.5% of economic growth as measured in the gross domestic product, at par with global standards.