Schools not spared from corruption
Public outrage over chronic corruption that has long hobbled the Philippines and caused unnecessary suffering among Filipinos was on full display during the massive protests across the country last Sunday.
That widespread anger and frustration was no doubt ignited by the jaw-dropping revelations of high-level collusion, payoffs, and abuse of power by government officials and private contractors that led to billions of pesos being wasted every year on substandard or “ghost” infrastructure projects under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
That rot has so permeated the DPWH that corruption has not just compromised the delivery of flood control projects that could have protected Filipinos from massive floods but even public school buildings, as revealed by Education Secretary Sonny Angara.
Angara said last week that some 1,000 classrooms turned over by the DPWH to the Department of Education (DepEd) had not been completed or turned over even if these were lacking basic requirements such as paint and electricity and thus could not be maximized by the students, teachers, and communities who badly need them.
As a result, classrooms have been overcrowded and even the dilapidated and condemned buildings had to be used to accommodate the students, while insatiable greed has left Filipino taxpayers with substandard, overpriced, and sometimes nonexistent projects.
Structurally defective
Indeed, the number could be even more than 1,000, prompting Angara to order an exhaustive audit of the DPWH-built classrooms to determine the magnitude of the corruption in these projects.
DepEd Assistant Secretary Paulo Bartolome directed regional directors, school division superintendents, and public school district supervisors to report all incomplete, substandard, and structurally defective school buildings. These reports that are expected to be completed by the end of the month would then be consolidated and used by the central office “to pursue corrective action, demand accountability, and ensure learners receive safe and functional classrooms.”
An immediate corrective action that is gathering support is the transfer of the responsibility of constructing classrooms from DPWH to the local government units, who should be in a better position to check on the progress of these projects and ensure that they are completed as scheduled.
Issue of cost
Angara noted, for example, that construction of school buildings had slowed down significantly over the last few decades as constructing public school buildings was “not a priority” of the DPWH, which supposedly already had its hands full with the larger infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and, yes, flood control projects.
As a result, even with the pressing backlog of more than 165,000 classrooms nationwide, the DepEd can only build about 4,000 new classrooms a year, and not all of them in good operating condition, as the DepEd is unfortunately finding out.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) expressed the anger and frustration shared by Filipinos who are realizing more keenly that corruption is not just a vague concept but an actual disease like cancer with real world, painful, and expensive consequences.
ACT chair Vladimer Quetua underscored that overcrowding and multiple shifts in schools remain among the biggest barriers to improved learning outcomes.
There is also the issue of cost. Angara pointed out that DPWH-implemented classrooms cost between P2.5 million and P3.7 million each while civil society groups and private organizations are able to build similar and often better structures at half the cost.
Fundamental reforms
Clearly, fundamental reforms have to be implemented and fast. “If we don’t change our system, we won’t be able to solve it. Classroom backlogs will increase,” Angara stressed.
Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the Senate basic education committee, has already filed the proposed Classroom-Building Acceleration Program Act that will authorize NGOs and LGUs with a proven track record to build classrooms. He stressed the need to speed up the construction of new classrooms in the next three to five years to close the gap.
Correcting the complex problem of classroom shortages, however, will not come from quick fixes but from the consistent and dogged implementation of difficult but necessary reforms, from religious monitoring to ensure timely completion of these vital projects to administrative changes such as removing classroom construction from the DPWH and amendments of existing laws.
There are numerous options that can be considered but what is imperative is for the Marcos administration to muster the resolve to implement these reforms with urgency as Filipinos, awakened to the insatiable greed that has affected projects that are funded through their own money, do not have the patience or willingness to wait any longer for their rightful due.
