Stricter screening of school project contractors urged

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February 10, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —   As the Senate continued its review of the government’s expanded public-private partnership (PPP) program, Sen. Raffy Tulfo called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to strengthen its screening and monitoring of contractors involved in the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) 1 and 2.

Tulfo criticized what he described as the department’s inadequate assessment of private firms that participated in and were awarded contracts under the program.

He said the shortcomings may explain the continued complaints his office receives from parents and teachers about substandard public school facilities, including deteriorating ceilings, poor ventilation and insulation and unsanitary restrooms.

The PSIP allows private firms to build, furnish and maintain public school classrooms, with the government paying them over 10 years or more before ownership is transferred to the state.

According to Tulfo, stricter oversight could have compelled contractors to promptly address defects through existing warranty and maintenance provisions under the minimum performance standards and specifications.

During a hearing of the Senate committee on basic education yesterday, the senator also questioned how certain companies were allowed to join the bidding for PSIP projects despite previous issues.

He cited Vicente T. Lao Construction, which he flagged in September 2025 over a defective underpass project in General Santos City, and D.M. Consunji Inc., which faced allegations involving falsified documents and concerns from condominium unit owners over substandard works.

Tulfo urged DepEd to implement a more rigorous screening process for private firms seeking to participate in future PSIP projects to ensure that public funds are properly spent.

He also proposed incorporating disaster- and calamity-resilient specifications in PSIP 3 projects, noting that public schools often serve as evacuation centers and have previously sustained heavy damage from typhoons and earthquakes.

DepEd Undersecretary for strategic management Ronald Mendoza agreed to include such provisions in upcoming policies.

In addition, Tulfo pressed for mandatory warranty and maintenance mechanisms of up to 10 years to prevent parents and teachers associations (PTAs) from shouldering repair costs.

Mendoza committed that DepEd would tighten its bidding procedures, ensure that facilities are fully completed and properly maintained before the release of public funds and submit a list of contractors previously flagged for defective classrooms for possible blacklisting.

Committee chair Sen. Bam Aquino, for his part, called for data on the failure rate of the 13,000 classrooms built under the PSIP program, stressing that its continuation depends on performance.

“Sometimes, when a project is turned over, you don’t immediately know there’s a problem until a typhoon hits. PTAs are not engineers who can easily detect structural issues. We would like to see the data – the failure or problem rate out of the 13,000 classrooms,” Aquino said.

“We need to know whether we’re talking about hundreds or thousands. Obviously, for the program to continue, the majority of the 13,000 classrooms should be in good condition. But if the failure rate is 70 percent, why should we continue it?” he added.

Leasing

Amid scrutiny of long-term infrastructure programs, DepEd has begun rolling out interim solutions to ease congestion.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara formally operationalized yesterday the agency’s classroom leasing initiative, with the first leased facility now being used by senior high school students in one of the country’s most congested provinces, Laguna.

The pilot involves leasing a private school that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and repurposing its facilities for public school use.

By transferring students to the nearby site, DepEd was able to ease double-shift arrangements and improve learning conditions.

“We are not setting aside the construction of new classrooms. Classroom construction is still ongoing in the entire country. But while we are doing this, we also need to think of other practical and immediate solutions such as classroom leasing so that the students and the teachers need not wait for years before we have a proper learning facility,” Angara said.

The leasing program is a stopgap measure developed with local governments and private partners while permanent classrooms are being built under traditional and PPP schemes.

Angara noted that an estimated 700 to 800 private schools closed during the pandemic.

The department is assessing whether some of these facilities can be leased and converted into functional learning spaces in other high-need areas. –  Evelyn Macairan