Bam Aquino urges Marcos to certify bill on faster classroom construction

Senator Bam Aquino on Thursday urged President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to certify the Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act as an urgent measure to enable the government to resolve the nationwide classroom backlog.

If passed into law, Aquino said Senate Bill No. 121, which he authored, would complement the Chief Executive’s directive to channel funds directly to local government units (LGUs) to help fast-track the construction of classrooms.

“Mahalaga po na ilagay na lang natin iyong responsibilidad ng paggawa ng classroom sa mga grupo at tao na kaya talagang gawin ito sa madaliang panahon at sa tamang presyo,” Aquino, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said in a video statement. 

(It’s important that we place the responsibility of building classrooms on groups and people capable of really doing it quickly and at the correct price.) 

“Natutuwa kami na sa araw na ito, sinang-ayunan tayo ng Presidente. We’re hoping na dahil naga-agree na po tayo dito, ise-certify po niya na urgent ang Classroom Acceleration Program para sabay-sabay po tayong gagawa ng mga classroom para sa ating mga kabataan,” the senator said. 

(We’re happy that the President agreed with us on this. We’re hoping that since we already agreed on this matter, he will certify the Classroom Acceleration Program as urgent so that we can simultaneously build classrooms for our youth.) 

Aquino’s bill proposes to decentralize classroom construction by expanding the mandate beyond the Department of Public Works and Highways to include LGUs and non-government organizations with a proven track record.

It proposed that LGUs and NGOs be allowed to build classrooms within their jurisdictions, in compliance with the Department of Education’s standards and guidelines.

On Monday, the DPWH revealed that only 22 classrooms have been finished so far out of the 1,700 classrooms targeted to be built this year.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the DPWH was focusing too much on flood control projects and that the building of classrooms stopped being a priority. 

On Wednesday, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said Marcos wants to provide the LGUs with direct funding for the construction of classrooms across the country.

She said a memorandum of agreement among the DPWH, the Department of Education, and the local government units would be signed to ensure this policy. — JMA, GMA Integrated News