MAKATI CITY — The Department of Education (DepEd) has officially decentralized the construction and repair of public school buildings, signing a new memorandum of agreement (MOA) with local government units (LGUs) to accelerate the delivery of classrooms under the 2026 national budget.
The move, led by Education Secretary Sonny Angara, aims to bypass traditional bureaucratic bottlenecks by empowering cities and provinces to take the lead in infrastructure projects. The initiative is a direct response to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to address the country’s massive shortage of 165,000 classrooms.
Local Knowledge, National Standards Under the new agreement, LGUs will act as primary implementing partners, leveraging their local knowledge to identify priority schools. “We can move faster when we work with LGUs because they know best which schools are in most need,” Angara said.
To ensure quality and accountability, DepEd will provide:
- Standardized Designs: Uniform blueprints for classrooms to ensure structural integrity.
- Technical Oversight: Monitoring to ensure all projects meet the “Minimum Performance Standards and Specifications.”
- Audit Safeguards: Strict compliance with government auditing rules to maintain transparency in the use of public funds.
Flexible Funding and Implementation The MOA allows for a “funding mix” approach, where projects can be financed through national allocations, the national tax allotment, and the Special Education Fund (SEF). LGUs can utilize their own procurement processes to speed up construction, whether for entirely new buildings or the urgent repair of existing facilities.
Unity Among Leaders Angara is currently coordinating with major LGU organizations—including the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the League of Provinces (LPP), and the League of Cities (LCP)—to align on timelines and standards.
By shifting from a centralized model to a partnership-driven approach, the government hopes to provide safer, less crowded, and more conducive learning spaces for millions of Filipino learners and their teachers. This decentralization of resources is seen as a historic step in finally bridging the infrastructure gap that has long hindered the quality of Philippine education.