Iloilo City (CNN Philippines) — Iloilo City is planning to borrow P480 million to build 200 classrooms for senior high school students who will be part of the K-to-12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd).
Councilor Jason Gonzales, chairman of the Committee on Education of the Ilolilo City Council, said on Tuesday (September 8) that the students would need more classrooms in 2016, as well as more teachers and other facilities.
The K-to-12 program will be introduced in Grade 11 in the 2016-2017 school year and Grade 12 in the 2017-2018 school year.
The first batch of K-to-12 students will graduate in March 2018.
Gonzales said the national government only assured the city of 62 classrooms, including 60 rooms to be funded by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).
“We will have to provide for the rest,” he said. “In our recent meeting with the school board, we agreed to use the special education fund, or SEF, in constructing 12 school buildings which can host 20 classrooms each.”
A school building costs about P40 million, or a total cost P480 million for the 12 buildings, which will house 240 classrooms in all.
Only 10 private educational institutions have committed to accommodate high school seniors starting next year.
“Our problem is where to get this amount of P480 million,” Gonzales said. “We have decided in the board to get it from loans, which will be paid out from the SEF.”
Gonzales said the city was considering asking for a soft loan from the Department of Finance, which offers a 3 percent interest to Yolanda-stricken local government units.
Other sources of loans are the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines, both of which impose an interest of 6 percent.
The Iloilo City Council approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to negotiate with financial institutions that can offer the P480-million loan for the 12 school buildings.
