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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
January 6, 2026 | 8:20am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is getting a P65 billion budget this year for the construction of nearly 25,000 new classrooms, the most ambitious school building target the government has had since 2020.
DepEd announced the allocation on Monday, January 5, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the P6.793-trillion national budget, which devotes a record P1.015 trillion to the Department of Education — the first time Philippine education spending has hit the UNESCO benchmark.
Of the P1.105 trillion, at least P85.3 billion will go to the broader category of classroom repair and construction. Broken down, P65 billion will be for new classrooms and P7.7 billion will go to repairs of existing school buildings, among others.
“This 2026, DepEd is focused on ensuring that we can further improve the quality of education in our country through adequate and well-maintained facilities, broader access to digital tools, and continuous support for our teachers,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in Filipino.
DepEd’s statement also included Angara’s commitment to “more transparent and faster implementation of school building programs,” with the department pledging to “actively pursue partnerships with local government units and private sector partners through public-private partnerships.”
Angara's target of constructing 24,964 new classrooms comes amid persistent concerns about the country's chronic shortage of school infrastructure. DepEd estimates the backlog at 148,000 classrooms, a deficit that grows each year as student enrollment outpaces construction.
Catching up to the backlog
Data show the government has been perennially playing catch-up to its classroom backlog. Last year, the government aimed to build just 1,600 classrooms but managed to complete only 22 by October. In 2024, 3,181 classrooms were built against a target of 7,267. The year before that, it delivered 192 out of a planned 6,379.
DepEd has blamed the Department of Public Works and Highways for this dismal construction record, citing the agency's heavy workload and what Angara called an obsession with flood control projects at the expense of classrooms.
Since 2018, only DPWH has been authorized to implement all DepEd-funded school building projects, a system that was put in place due to a perceived lack of engineers within DepEd.
To break the logjam, lawmakers have tweaked the provisions of the 2026 General Appropriations Act to allow DepEd to partner with local government units in building new classrooms.
House lawmakers, during the deliberations of DepEd's budget, also agreed to raise the allocation for school infrastructure almost seven times than what the department originally sought.
Can more money solve the problem?
But throwing more money at classroom construction has proven insufficient in the past, according to the Second Congressional Commission on Education.
EDCOM II's Year II report found that the Basic Education Facilities Fund — which peaked at P118 billion in 2017 — had been slashed to P28 billion by 2025 due to chronic underutilization.
The commission identified systemic bottlenecks: planning delays, failed biddings, design modifications, contract cancellations, and outdated data used to determine classroom needs.
The report noted that enrollment data used for budget planning lags up to three years behind the actual numbers in schools. For the 2024 budget, DepEd used enrollment figures from school year 2022-2023 and building inventory data from 2021-2022, making it difficult to target resources where they're most needed.
Cost mismatches between agencies also complicate delivery. DPWH's P3.5-million baseline cost per classroom accounts for current material prices and site access for machinery, while DepEd budgets P2.5 million based on planning averages. The gap has led to funding shortfalls and project delays.
EDCOM II earlier estimated that P105 billion would be needed annually just to keep pace with demand, assuming a constant need for 12,000 new classrooms each year. At current rates, the commission found, the classroom shortage would take over 20 years to resolve.
