Angara boosts accountability as LGUs start building classrooms

MANILA, Philippines — Education Secretary Sonny Angara has reinforced institutional oversight and monitoring guidelines to ensure that 79 partner local government units (LGUs) that have started building classrooms will comply with timelines, digital validation, and strict fiscal standards, according to a statement issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday.

The initial collaborations between DepEd and the LGUs represent a P9.3 billion investment for the construction of 2,632 classrooms across more than 600 school sites nationwide.

According to DepEd, this localized program complements other massive national infrastructure initiatives, including DepEd’s P36.227 billion funding pipeline for new classroom construction and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) School Infrastructure Program.

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The new localized construction guidelines, Angara emphasized, will not only empower local leaders but will also ensure a faster, more responsive approach to addressing urgent classroom shortages with absolute transparency.

“Our cooperation with local governments will be a big help in speeding up the construction of facilities. DepEd alone cannot solve the shortage in classrooms. So the help of LGUs is very valuable in ensuring that the schools of our students will be safe and comfortable,” Angara said in Filipino.

“We laid down these guidelines not to complicate or prolong the process but to speed up the release of funds while ensuring projects will be clean, of high quality, and without anomalies,” he added.

To enforce strict accountability, DepEd is exercising total institutional oversight through the newly established Joint Project Implementation and Construction Committee (PICC).

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READ: DepEd taps LGUs to bridge 165,000 classroom gap

Here are the highlights of the new DepEd guidelines:

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Project monitoring has also been completely digitized, using INSIGHTED, a real-time digital validation and monitoring system designed to track construction progress and eliminate delays.

All LGU-implemented projects must strictly adhere to DepEd’s technical standards, safety protocols, and the New Government Procurement Act.

A milestone-based fiscal structure will ensure funds are used responsibly.

Project funding will be released in three strict installments, which will be directly tied to verified construction milestones.

A “green lane” financial mechanism will streamline administrative fund releases for compliant LGUs to prevent bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Any project lagging behind its official schedule by 15% or more will face automatic cancellation, with DepEd taking over the construction.

Eligible LGUs retain the flexibility to either hire local contractors through competitive bidding or use their own city and provincial engineers for the construction work, provided they meet national standards.

“By reinforcing this accountability framework, DepEd ensures that localized construction needs are met without compromising national quality or timelines,” the DepEd statement said.

“With these updated guidelines now officially active, DepEd expects even more local governments to join the program to help accelerate the building of new classrooms across the country,” the statement added. /atm

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