PUBLIC Works Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday ordered a nationwide inventory of all unfinished school buildings and classrooms to address a construction backlog estimated at 165,000 units.
Dizon said the directive aligns with government efforts to accommodate a growing student population and ensure environments are conducive to learning. He noted that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Department of Education to collaborate on the initiative. The DPWH aims to have the classrooms ready by the start of the school year in June.
”The national [government] really needs to be more proactive in finding unfinished [projects], then find a solution on how to finish them,” Dizon said. “Because sometimes when you’re thinking about a new project, there are still many unfinished ones. It’s just piling up. The best way forward is to take an inventory of all of these [unfinished school buildings]. There are many of these all over the country. Take an inventory and prioritize funding for them first.” Under the 2026 General Appropriations Act, P85.4 billion has been allocated for classrooms and facilities. This includes P65.9 billion for the construction of 24,964 new classrooms, P7.7 billion for the repair and rehabilitation of 11,886 classrooms and P4.2 billion for the completion of infrastructure projects, leasing initiatives and site validation. The budget also provides P1.1 billion for the improvement of 258 Gabaldon school buildings and P2 billion for three medium-rise school buildings.
The allocation further provides P3.6 billion for 25,451 sets of desks and furniture, P56 million for four community learning centers, P209 million for 16 inclusive learning resource centers, P1 billion for 72 library hubs, P500 million for 333 priority school health facilities and P330 million for public-private partnership school infrastructure projects.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara previously said that the classroom shortage is most acute in highly populated areas such as Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and the National Capital Region. He noted that shortages in some cities reach hundreds of thousands, forcing many public schools to implement double or triple shifts for classes.
Dizon urged civil society and religious groups, such as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Caritas, to help safeguard government projects from corruption by monitoring the DPWH Transparency Portal. He admitted that the DPWH lacks the institutional capacity to monitor every project and requires local assistance from the church, dioceses and community organizations to ensure accountability.