Local government units are raring to do their part in addressing the country’s classroom backlog after years of dismal performance on the part of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines president and Quirino governor Dax Cua said.
“We are ready, we are willing, and we are raring to do our part in addressing the lack of classrooms across the country. Some might call the Department of Education’s target for classrooms built this year ambitious, but I believe that with the help of local government units we can make a great run at it,” Cua said.
Cua’s comment comes as the DepEd announced that it is getting a P65 billion budget to construct 24,964 classrooms in the newly-signed P6.793-trillion national budget.
Cua said that allowing LGUs to construct classrooms would also help ensure that the facilities are built where they are actually needed.
Cua, a former lawmaker, lauded his former colleagues for recognizing that the “DPWH could use some help” in fulfilling its mandate of constructing classrooms by tweaking provisions in the 2026 General Appropriations Act to allow DepEd to partner with LGUs in building new classrooms.
Since 2018, the DPWH has had sole authority to implement all DepEd-funded school building projects due to a perceived lack of engineers within DepEd.
“We simply cannot have a repeat the past years of poor performance—especially last year where only 22 out of an already low target of 1,600 classrooms were built,” said the governor.
In 2024, 3,181 out of a target 7,267 classrooms were built. Meanwhile in 2023, only 192 out of a planned 6,379 classrooms were delivered.
He said that allowing LGUs to construct classrooms would also help ensure that the facilities are built where they are actually needed.
“Nangyayari din kasi na dahil sa kawalan ng koordinasyon ng magpapatupad ng proyekto sa LGU, outdated na ang data na ginagamit,” he said.
