DepEd completes typhoon-damaged schoolbuildings needed repairs

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has recently completed the repairs on minor damages of public elementary and secondary school buildings caused last year by typhoons Pedring and Quiel in seven affected regions.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the DepEd Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) earlier placed the validated total cost of repairs in damaged schools at P341.3 million.

Luistro said the completed repairs on minor damages were valued at P31.9 million (nine percent) while damaged instructional materials, devices and equipment — such as textbooks, information and communication technology (ICT) equipment, furniture and others which have been replaced — accounted for P4.3 million (one percent).

Concerned education field officials, Luistro said, charged the costs of minor repairs against their respective schools’ maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and school-based management (SBM) repair and maintenance funds.

DepEd also received appropriate financial and in-kind supports from Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and local government units (LGUs) in the affected areas.

Major damages valued at P305.2 million (90 percent) are all covered with budget allocations, Luistro said, adding that funding sources included P120 million from DepEd’s remaining Quick Response Fund (QRF) for 2011, P100 million funding requests from the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), and over P85 million pooled from the agency’s savings.

The DepEd chief explained that “while no actual major repair has been completed, we have started the bidding process while awaiting down loading of funds and we are confident that all repairs will be finished by the end of 2011.”

Luistro identified the seven regions heavily affected by typhoons Pedring and Quiel as Ilocos, Central Luzon, Cagayan Valley, Southern Tagalog-A (Calabarzon), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and National Capital Region (NCR)