Angara: Classroom construction must not be exclusive to DPWH

MANILA, Philippines —  Education Secretary Sonny Angara wants a special provision in the proposed 2026 General Appropriations Act removing the sole authority of building classrooms from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), in an effort to significantly lessen the classroom backlog now estimated at 165,000.

“We’re proposing that even local government units and possibly civil society organizations (will be authorized),” Angara said.

The move came amid the controversy besetting the DPWH after President Marcos questioned the utilization of billions of pesos allocated for flood control projects.

“Let’s call it a school building flexibility provision so that many entities can participate in the program,” Angara said.

Presently, a classroom costs between P2.5 and P3.5 million, Angara said.

“If we don’t build them now, it’ll get harder and harder, and your level of difficulty will increase over the years,” he noted.

Angara said the government will also leverage public-private partnership in the construction of classrooms.

“Under the school building program, (the target) is 6,000 (classrooms) a year. If your backlog is 165,000, it doesn’t get you very much, so that’s why we’re proposing the PPP. We can build at least over a hundred thousand in the next three years. It needs to be attractive for the private sector to bid,” Angara said.

Budget recovery

Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) will be able to recover the P11-billion budget slashed by Congress in the 2025 budget, Angara disclosed.

“The President worked to recover it so the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is going to release that money soon to us,” he said.

Angara said that for this year, DepEd’s total budget reached P800 billion.

“It took… rather than being released in January, we had to wait for the additional revenue of the government to materialize for it. So credit to the President, credit to the secretary of DBM for prioritizing education,” Angara explained.

He said he “felt bad” that this year’s budget for education was cut, “because I was chair of (the Senate committee on) finance for five years, and we really don’t cut from education. If we can, we try to add to it,”

He noted that education should be the highest priority under the Constitution.

“I was surprised because everyone was talking during the budget deliberation, saying, if we can, we’ll increase it. But anyway, that’s water under the bridge, and we’re looking forward, and we like what we hear from Sen. Sherwin (Gatchalian), Senator Bam (Aquino) who are saying that they’d like to increase the budget to hit four percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product),” Angara said.

“That will be very historic, and I’m pretty sure it will happen during the Marcos administration because we have about three more budgets left,” Angara added.

Angara said that for 2026, the DepEd is pushing for at least P920 billion in total appropriations.

Tulfo slammed

A teachers’ group yesterday clapped back at Sen. Raffy Tulfo amid his “misplaced anger” toward Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), saying he should instead address the root cause of chronic underfunding of public education.

“The real issue is not the PTAs themselves, but the government’s systematic failure to provide adequate funding for our public schools, forcing parents and teachers into these desperate measures,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers National Capital Region union president Ruby Bernardo said.

Bernardo pointed out the irony in Tulfo’s position: “While we appreciate his call to prohibit collections from parents, where is his corresponding demand for massive increases in the education budget? Saying ‘no collections’ without ensuring adequate government funding is merely populist rhetoric that will leave our schools in worse condition.”

Tulfo made the remark during Tuesday’s Senate committee on basic education hearing, slamming PTAs for collecting money from parents.

“Every time there would be a PTA meeting, instead of talking about the academic performance of the students, what is being discussed are (school) projects,” he said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Bernardo noted that teachers often contribute from their own meager salaries to supplement school needs.

“Teachers are doubly burdened – we contribute financially and then get blamed when PTAs try to fill the funding gaps. Senator Tulfo should direct his ‘gigil’ toward the Department of Education and the Department of Budget and Management for their inadequate allocations,” she said.

Bernardo said that instead of grandstanding against PTAs, Tulfo should champion a substantial increase in the education budget to at least six percent of the GDP as recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.