DepEd needs over P308 million to repair 'Agaton'-damaged infrastructure
The Department of Education (DepED) on Tuesday, April 19, said that it needs an estimated amount of P308.50 million to reconstruct and repair infrastructure damaged by “Agaton” (international name: Megi), the first tropical cyclone to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) in 2022.
In its report, DepED Director IV for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS) Ronilda Co said that a total of 12,019 schools in the country have been affected by “Agaton.”

“Ang pinaka malala na naapektuhan ay ang Region VIII na more than 4,000 affected schools at ang Region VI na more than 3,000 (The worst-affected are Regions VIII and VI. Region VIII has more than 4,000 affected schools and Region VI has more than 3,000),” said Co in a press conference.
DepEd’s partial data also showed that at least 420 schools in Regions VIII and VI are currently being used as an evacuation center.
“Mayroon tayong 21 na schools na may flooding at nakikita po natin at ito ay karamihan nasa Region VIII. Nagdulot din po ito ng landslides (At least 21 schools have been flooded and most of them are located in Region VIII. It also caused landslides),” added Co.

Meanwhile, apart from infrastructure damage, DepEd likewise needs to address the non-infrastructure damage brought by the tropical cyclone.
This, according to Co, includes damage to school furniture, learning resources, and computer sets.
“Lahat lahat kapag pinagsama-sama po natin ito ay umaabot sa mahigit P567 million (All in all, when we add it up, it reaches more than P567 million),” she added.