ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Imee questions DepEd's P85-B classroom budget over low fund utilization

Imee questions DepEd's P85-B classroom budget over low fund utilization

Published Dec 13, 2025 09:23 pm

At A Glance

  • Senator Imee Marcos questioned the sharp increase in DepEd's classroom construction budget despite a low 23 percent fund utilization rate. Meanwhile Senate Finance Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian cited the 165,000-classroom backlog, and bared plans to tap PPPs, LGUs, CSOs, and NGOs to solve the problem.
Senator Imee Marcos on Saturday, Dec. 13 flagged the sharp increase in the Department of Education’s (DepEd) classroom construction budget, despite the agency’s rather lackluster 23 percent absorption rate.
Senator Imee Marcos (Senate PRIB photo)
Senator Imee Marcos (Senate PRIB photo)
During Bicameral Conference Committee deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget, Marcos questioned the decision to significantly raise classroom funding from about ₱28 billion in 2025 to as much as ₱85 billion next year despite DepEd’s low fund utilization.
“I am not opposed to the construction of classrooms. But are we doing right? They are not spending, but we keep on adding and adding the budget for the construction of classrooms, while the accomplishment is only 23 percent?” Marcos asked in Filipino.
Marcos said the issue was not about the size of the budget alone, but whether or not current strategies can effectively deliver results for the benefit of students and teachers.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, responded that the classroom backlog was around 165,000. He said the government needs to allocate P400 billion to catch up with the construction of classrooms.
“This allocation is mainly intended to decongest classrooms in highly urbanized areas. The Department of Education’s methods and mechanisms will include first, public-private partnerships (PPP); second, partnering with local government units (LGUs); third, partnering with civil society organizations (CSOs); and fourth, partnering with non-government organizations (NGOs) to build the classrooms,” Gatchalian said.
In previous years, he further explained, only the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was allowed to construct the classrooms for the DepEd.
Senator Paolo "Bam" Aquino recently called the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) completion of only 60 classrooms for 2025 “completely unacceptable".
He said this as he underscored the need for the passage of his Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act as a vital step toward addressing the country’s classroom backlog within six years.
During the period of interpellation on his Senate Bill (SB) No. 1482, Aquino said the DPWH’s mismanagement and prioritization of flood control projects in recent years led to low classroom completion numbers.

Related Tags

imee marcos Department of Education classroom backlog Philippines 2026 budget
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.