Twenty-two (22) senators have signed the committee report on the bill that seeks to accelerate the construction of classrooms nationwide.

The 22 senators who signed Committee Report No. 6 on Senate Bill No. 1482 or the proposed Clasrrom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act include Senators Francis”Kiko” Pangilinan, Christopher “Bong” Go, Loren Legarda, Robin Padilla, Raffy Tulfo, Joel Villanueva, Pia Cayetano, Sherwin Gatchalian, Erwin Tulfo, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Mark Villar, and Jinggoy Estrada who also co-sponsored the measure.

The bill, which was filed by Sen. Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV, has also been included in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) priority list, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III announced on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

“With the number of sponsors and co-authors of this measure, we might as well pass it today,” Sotto said of Aquino’s Senate Bill No. 1482, or “An Act Establishing the Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Under the Department of Education, Authorizing Local Government Units and Civil Society Organizations to Undertake Classroom Construction Projects.”

“But nevertheless, because we have to follow the rules, we will have to suspend and approve it afterwards,” Sotto added.

“Even the Palace is backing up your bill. LEDAC priority list, it’s included there,” Sotto told Aquino, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.

For his part, Aquino thanked his colleagues for their overwhelming support, adding that the CAP Act is a measure where lawmakers can work together for the Filipino youth and the Filipino people.

“I’d just like to thank our colleagues for the support. I know there are many who support, what I didn’t expect that many will sign up to be a co-sponsor and co-author of the measure,” said Aquino.

“I hope this can be one of the measures where we can work together for the Filipino youth and the Filipino people,” he stressed.

In his sponsorship speech of the bill, Aquino called for the swift passage of the CAP Act, saying it will help close the gap and eventually end the massive 165,000-classroom backlog in public schools and promote transparency and accountability in classroom construction.

The bill primarily aims to address the classroom backlog in the country by allowing help of local government units (LGUs) and qualified non-government organizations (NGOs) to help the government in the construction of classrooms before it balloons to 219,000 in the next three years if left unacted upon.

SB No. 1482 also requires the DepEd to publicly disclose all documents related to classroom construction under the CAP Act, allowing the public to monitor the use of funds and ensure transparency.

The senator lamented the slow implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH), noting that only 22 out of 1,700 target classrooms for 2025 have been completed so far.

“If we want to close the classroom gap by 2031–in 6 years–I think we need to build 39,000 classrooms per year. Take note, the target for 2025 is only 1,700 classrooms. If that's our target, it seems impossible to close the classroom gap,” he said.

“But if we want to close it, in six years, we need to build 39,000 classrooms per year for six years. The price of this is, roughly, P90 billion pesos per year, or to close our classroom gap, we need P540 billion over six years,” the lawmaker stressed.