IN WHAT APPEARS to be an earnest bid to appease Filipinos yearning for results instead of rhetoric, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has finally decided to keep the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) away from school-related infrastructures.
At the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Education (DepEd) and various provinces in Malacañang, Marcos said that the local government units (LGU) will be taking the lead in the construction of classrooms.
”We are changing the system because the process that we have now is much too slow. With this initiative, we can take a big bite out of that gap. And under this partnership, the DepEd will set the technical standards, provide designs, and supply the funding for these classrooms,” Marcos said.
”On the other hand, the LGUs will take the lead in their procurement and actual construction,” the President added.
CLASSROOM BACKLOG
According to Marcos, the classroom shortage as of December 2025 amounted to 145,000 units. However, web sources showed that the backlog is way higher than what the President stated.
Data collated from search engine Google indicated 165,000 classroom gaps as of 2025, a predicament largely driven by population growth and slow construction, requiring an estimated P400 billion to resolve.
While the government has allocated funds to build thousands of new classrooms, construction remains slow, with the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region, Metro Manila and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) experiencing the highest deficits
Without proper intervention, the gap could increase to 230,000 by 2028.
NO MORE WAITING
”How have we allowed this to become such a bad, bad situation? I cannot – I cannot understand,” an obviously pissed off President averred.
According to the Malacanang chief executive, the administration has been finding ways to address what he referred to as ‘yawning gap.”
”Because we cannot wait another five or 10 years to ensure that every student has a comfortable classroom. So, we have initiated this partnership with the local government units. That is one of our strategies,” Marcos said.
Marcos is confident that the construction of these school facilities by LGUs would not result in ghost and substandard projects.
”Ang sabi ko, hindi uubra yan pagka sa LGU. Hindi uubra yan dahil ang tao mismo ang kaharap ninyo. Pagka hindi maganda ang gawin ninyong trabaho, sisitahin kayo. Araw-araw kayong – gabi-gabi kayong kakatukin sa bahay ninyo.”
LOCALIZED CORRUPTION
Later in the day, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro expressed belief that the supposed corrupt practices would not be ”transferred” to the LGUs.
”Huwag namang korapsyon agad. Kaya nga po natin nililinis ito para, unang-una, matugunan ang kakulangan sa silid-paaralan and at the same time, mapabilis. Pero hindi po ibig sabihin nito na ililipat ang korapsyon dahil ayaw po ng Pangulo ng korapsyon,” Castro said during the regular press briefing.
Under the MOA, LGUs will carry out the construction, rehabilitation and improvement of classrooms within their jurisdictions, including procurement and on-site implementation, in accordance with national standards.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES
DepEd for its part will identify priority schools, issue standard classroom designs and technical specifications, and oversee the process through plan review, validation of completed works, and compliance checks on safety, accessibility and quality standards.
“These signatures mark the end of working in silos. They mark the beginning of shared responsibility,” said DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara.
Angara assured that the agreement complements existing national school building programs and leverages local implementation capacity to speed up delivery while maintaining national standards.
Marcos promised to prioritize education until the end of his term — ”And that is why, I have pledged for the remainder of this administration, we will prioritize – the first priority will be education.”