P8 B needed to repair schools damaged by calamities

The funding needed to repair schools damaged by various calamities that hit the country since 2017 has ballooned to a whopping P8 billion, according to an official of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Education Undersecretary for administration Alain Del Pascua said funds needed to repair calamity-struck schools almost doubled following the series of strong earthquakes that shook parts of Mindanao last month.

“Our deficit for calamity-related replacement damage would reach something like P8 billion,” Pascua told The

STAR in Filipino. “For Mindanao, it’s already P4 billion.”

Latest data from the DepEd showed that P3.4 billion is needed to rehabilitate or reconstruct more than 1,000 schools that collapsed or sustained major damage following the earthquakes.

In Kidapawan City, which was heavily jolted by the temblors, Mayor Joseph Evangelista said they need at least P300 million to repair the schools that sustained damage.

“I hope it will be given priority in the 2020 budget,” Evangelista said, noting that they had to establish temporary learning spaces to be able to resume classes.

Given the backlog of schools that need to be repaired, however, Pascua said some of those that recently sustained damage may have to wait a little longer.

“Our Quick Response Fund (QRF) next year is P2 billion, according to Congress. It will be depleted immediately by January (when the new budget takes effect). It will not be enough,” the education official said.

Asked if it would be possible to lodge the funding requirement on the regular budget, Pascua said the agency also has an existing plan on where to build new classrooms.

“We were asking for (a budget for) 67,000 classrooms, but they only gave us something for 8,000,” he said, referring to the proposed 2020 budget.

“That is the problem. We have to prioritize because there are some who experience shortage in classrooms,” he added.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones had earlier said they have already requested the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to allocate funds for the reconstruction of the schools damaged by the quake.

Education Undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla said they are also asking the Department of Budget and Management for supplemental QRF to cover the repair of the affected schools.

Sevilla added that they also have the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service operational fund that they use for clean-up, temporary learning spaces and other minor repairs.

Latest data showed that 757 temporary learning spaces worth P64.5 million have been established in 189 schools to allow classes to resume despite damaged buildings.

Another P30 million has been released for clean-up, psychological first aid and emergency feeding.

Amid the ballooning requirement needed to repair disaster-damaged schools, a teachers’ group has scored the government for the problems encountered in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games despite the huge budget allocation it received.

“The government would rather squander billions on unproductive infrastructures like the P55-million cauldron than invest on human resource development,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers chairperson Joselyn Martinez said on Tuesday.