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Neil Jayson Servallos - The Philippine Star
February 28, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) yesterday vowed to prioritize last-mile schools (LMSs) as part of the administration’s push to deliver quality education to underserved schools in remote areas.
“Last mile doesn’t have to be last priority,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said as he led a series of school visits in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Last-mile schools are those that have less than four classrooms, usually makeshift, and have no electricity nor funding for repairs or new construction. These schools also take more than an hour to reach and are accessible only through difficult terrains.
Despite these, LMSs admit less than 100 students in different grade levels but have less than five teachers, more than 75 percent of whom are indigenous people, DepEd said.
Angara said President Marcos wants DepEd to prioritize helping last-mile schools as part of the administration’s equity agenda.
“Our school visits in the Cordillera give us hope, showing that the right interventions can translate to positive outcomes,” Angara said.
Angara told students and teachers that DepEd remains committed to improving conditions in geographically isolated schools.
In Andolor Elementary School, he led the turnover of a newly constructed school building, ensuring better learning spaces for students.
He also inaugurated a new facility at the Benguet Special Education Center – Inclusive Learning Resource Center.
Angara said visiting regions every month provides helpful insights amid the government’s education reform agenda.
Meanwhile, 30 underserved schools across the country will receive P400,000 worth of learning tools and facilities under the DepEd’s adopt-a-school program.
In a statement, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said it signed yesterday an agreement with DepEd where the former would invest P400,000 per school until 2027.
The amount is earmarked for laptops, tablets, printers and others, GSIS general manager Wick Veloso said.
Veloso said the new agreement increases the original 25 schools to 30, expanding on the adopt-a-school program’s “decade-long track record of supporting 165 schools, with a strategic focus on areas impacted by disasters and last-mile schools.”
Ghost students
House assistant majority leader and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon yesterday urged the House committees on basic education and culture and on good government and public accountability to conduct a joint motu proprio inquiry into the alleged presence of “ghost beneficiaries” in DepEd’s Senior High School (SHS) voucher program.
Citing reports that private schools have been listing non-existent students as early as 2016, Bongalon emphasized the need for swift congressional action to preserve the program’s credibility.
He said that preliminary findings suggest that these phantom beneficiaries have siphoned millions from the education budget, undermining the SHS voucher program’s original purpose of decongesting public schools and supporting legitimate learners.
Under Vice President Sara Duterte’s watch, Bongalon said concerns were raised that insufficient safeguards and lax oversight allowed the scam to persist, with critics arguing that her perceived inaction during this period may have enabled unscrupulous individuals to manipulate the system.
Bongalon acknowledged that while DepEd, under Angara, has already initiated an internal probe into 12 private schools across nine divisions for allegedly submitting bogus enrollees – potentially defrauding the government of over P52 million during school year 2023–2024 – Congress must conduct a parallel investigation to legislate measures that will prevent such schemes from recurring.
Beyond the SHS voucher anomalies, Bongalon pointed out that a broader pattern of “ghosting” under the Duterte administration is emerging.
“Remember retired police officer Arturo Lascañas’ testimony in 2017, where he revealed that funds for supposed ‘ghost employees’ in Davao City – during Rodrigo Duterte’s mayoral tenure – were used for clandestine operations?” Bongalon said. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla
