Senate seeks to address classroom shortage

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Raffy Tulfo called for the implementation of stricter parameters and clearer guidelines in addressing classroom congestion.

“We can no longer afford to incur unreasonable delays, sub-standard construction, and the awarding of projects to unqualified contractors,” he said during the Committee on Basic Education public hearing to discuss Senate Resolution No. 252 or the Private-Public Partnerships (PPP) on Monday.

“Non-performing private companies should be blacklisted, like BF Corporation which was involved during the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project Phase I (PSIP) project. This is the same company in the consortium which contract the DOTR would terminate for the construction of the Unified Grand Central Station due to excessive delays,” Tulfo said.

He also mentioned the Vicente T. Lao construction company, which he said was a winning bidder in another PSIP.

“This is the same company which I already flagged in my privilege speech last September 2025, over the defective P657 million Gensan Underpass poject – which remains unfinished, and full of defects like potholes, water seepage and un-even pavements. Let’s not allow these old dogs play dirty tricks on us again!” Tulfo asked government officials.

But the senator commended the committee “for valiantly pushing for reforms” in the education sector, especially in prioritizing the issue on classroom shortage.

Last year, the Senate approved on third reading the Classroom Acceleration Program (CAP) Act and he said he is hoping that the bill would soon become a law.

“I agree with whatever mechanisms, like the PPP to accelerate the process of building classrooms,” Tulfo added.

In response, Sen. Bam Aquino, chair of the committee, said: “Senator Tulfo wanted to see the assessment. Me too. I want to see the assessment of the first PPP. Currently, they’re finalizing it.”

“We can see that there were classrooms built that were of no good quality. We are checking if the contractor has engaged in shady practices …or if they were given the chance to correct what they did which were deemed unacceptable,” he added.

He said the next PPP that will be done is jumping off the learnings from the previous PPP.

“So even though we finished that PPP in 2018, the next PPP, we can use the previous learnings so that it would be better and more systematic,” Aquino said.

He cited the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) II report, which shows that the classroom gap was at 166,000 classrooms—even before the earthquakes and typhoons that hit different parts of the country last year.

“We need to come together to build classrooms for Filipino students, who are currently shifting, cramped in classrooms, or having classes in hallways, outside the school, or sharing covered courts,” Aquino stressed.

“There is a historic P1.34 trillion budget for education for 2026, with 67.9 billion allocated for classrooms construction. The goal is to build 25,000 classrooms by 2026,” he added. /apl