DepEd: Classrooms neglected in favor of flood projects

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways was too engrossed with flood control projects and did not prioritize the construction of classrooms, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said yesterday following the admission of DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon that only 22 classrooms have been completed this year.

Speaking to reporters at Malacañang, Angara lamented the slow pace of construction, saying classrooms are urgently needed to provide students with an environment conducive to learning.

“It seems they were too engrossed with flood control, to be frank about it,” Angara said on the sidelines of the awarding of the Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos.

“The ones who should be alluded to should feel alluded to, but it seemed that the building of classrooms was no longer a priority,” he added.

In a recent Senate budget hearing, Dizon reported that 822 classroom projects are ongoing while another 882 “have not yet even started,” translating to what he described as a “very deplorable” performance rate of just 15.43 percent.

DepEd chief media relations officer Dennis Legaspi said the delay in classroom construction is worrisome, noting that under current rules, the DPWH is responsible for implementing all DepEd-funded school building projects.

“DPWH’s heavy workload, late budget releases, and leadership changes have caused delays, with only 22 classrooms completed so far under the 2025 Basic Educational Facilities Fund for new construction,” he said.

He added that from July 2022 to July 2025, DepEd and DPWH were able to complete 22,092 classrooms nationwide, reducing the overall classroom backlog from about 165,443 to 146,708.

“The current delays are temporary and we remain focused on catching up,” Legaspi assured.

To speed up the process, Angara said reforms are being undertaken.

Among these reforms are changes to the system adopted in 2018 that gave the DPWH sole authority to implement all DepEd-funded school building projects, and exploring partnerships similar to those implemented under former education secretary Armin Luistro, which resulted in the construction of 14,000 classrooms.

“We will also launch an online classroom dashboard for public tracking of classroom needs and construction progress, and host a classroom summit on November 20 to strengthen collaboration and transparency,” Legaspi added.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, voiced frustration over the DPWH’s poor performance.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said that despite education being a long-standing infrastructure priority, classroom construction continues to lag.

She also called for devolving the responsibility for school building projects from the DPWH to local governments.

Senate finance committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian, for his part, warned that the DPWH may lose more than half of its proposed P625-billion budget due to thousands of “red-flagged” infrastructure projects worth P271 billion, as well as around P70 billion worth of projects for 2026 found overpriced by over 1,000 percent based on an independent engineers’ review.

Record-high budget

For the first time in the country’s budget history, education will receive the highest allocation for 2026 – an unprecedented P1.28 trillion, as approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives earlier this month.

“We were able to breach the four percent international benchmark. And we didn’t just exceed that, it even reached 4.1 percent. This simply means the education budget represents 4.1 percent of our country’s GDP,” House appropriations committee chairperson Rep. Mikaela Angela Suansing proudly declared.

Suansing said that close to 80 percent of the P255 billion reallocated from the DPWH budget went to education, health, and agriculture as the House sought to make the 2026 spending plan an “education budget.”

Under the leadership of Angara, the total education allocation increased from P1.22 trillion in the National Expenditure Program to P1.28 trillion after the House added P56.6 billion.

According to Suansing, President Marcos’ guidance was crucial in identifying education, health, and agriculture as the top priorities.

The DepEd budget includes P35 billion added by the House for the Basic Education Facilities Program, bringing its total to P63.2 billion, which Suansing said “would translate to 25,200 new and rehabilitated classrooms for fiscal year 2026.”

Disaster response intensified

In a separate development, Angara said that at least 475,000 learners and 30,000 teachers and non-teaching personnel were affected by the recent series of earthquakes in various parts of the country.

“The department is strengthening the earthquake risk awareness campaigns on social media and in the schools,” Angara assured the public on Facebook.

Angara said he convened the 48th Executive Committee meeting after visiting Masbate to assess infrastructure repairs and discuss disaster preparedness and class suspensions.

He said the department is strengthening cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology on the Plan SMART platform, an automated multi-hazard contingency planning tool for schools.

DepEd data showed that 1,651 classrooms – mostly in Masbate City – were damaged by Typhoon Opong, with estimated losses reaching P1.079 billion.

Repairs at Masbate Comprehensive National High School and Nursery Elementary School are now between 40 and 90 percent complete, while minor repairs in some schools have been fully finished.

The DepEd has released P14.4 million to the schools division offices of Masbate and Masbate City for cleanup and minor repairs and requested an additional P23.4 million to sustain ongoing rehabilitation.

Aside from the recent earthquakes, the education sector also suffered from the onslaught of Typhoon Ramil.

The DepEd reported that 198 classrooms in 89 schools were totally damaged, 125 sustained major damage, and 557 suffered minor damage.

At least P1.8 million was released for cleanup and clearing operations, while P27.3 million was allocated for the repair of schools with minor damage.

“The department continues to monitor the situation’s impact on the education sector to identify urgent needs and ensure uninterrupted learning, while maintaining active coordination with the education cluster and other humanitarian partners to mobilize resources and deliver technical support to the affected regions,” the DepEd said, adding that all 22 schools used as evacuation centers have already been decamped. — Delon Porcalla, Alexis Romero