Angara pledges P100M of ‘pork’ for schools

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Administration senatorial candidate Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara on Tuesday pledged to allocate P100 million—or half of the annual pork barrel entitlement of senators—for the construction of classrooms and the upgrading of equipment in the public schools, particularly in the provinces.

Angara, who was chair of the House committee on higher education, said one of his priorities should he win a Senate seat would be to help the Aquino administration eliminate the more than 50,000-classroom shortage nationwide.

He also said he would help build more libraries and upgrade the computers in the public schools and colleges.

“Our public schools and government-run universities lack necessary facilities like classrooms and libraries and their computers need upgrading compared to public schools and universities in other countries,” Angara said in a statement.

Among the provinces the Department of Education has identified as having the greatest school needs are Pangasinan, Isabela, Batangas, Quezon, Palawan, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur and North Cotabato.

“If elected, I will set aside at least 40 to 50 percent of my [priority development assistance fund or pork barrel] which is P200 million a year to build school buildings,” he added.

Angara said classroom shortages affect the quality of education directly as students cannot focus on their lessons if they are crowded into classrooms.

Angara said there was a need to prioritize the classroom shortage because it leads to other problems such as an increase in dropout rates and poor student performance.

Earlier, Angara called on educators to be more innovative in their teaching methods to encourage critical thinking and creativity among the youth.

Angara adverted to management expert Tom Peters, in his best-selling book Re-imagine, on the need to adopt a school curriculum that “values questions above answers, creativity above fact, individuality above uniformity and excellence above standardized performance.”