Senators push to revise some laws on capping building cost of schools to build stronger ones

In the past weeks, series of typhoons landed in Luzon causing widespread outages and damaged infrastructures, especially school buildings, and had displaced many residents. On Monday, several senators had pushed for a revision of some laws that place a limit on the cost of construction of school buildings. They said that the government needs to build stronger infrastructures as it is evident that the damaged buildings were proven to be weak against the typhoons. 

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Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said during the budget deliberations that the government is only allowed to spend up to about P2 million per classroom; however it isn’t enough to build stronger rooms.

Baka in typhoon-prone areas, baka puwede na nilang gawin ang bagong design kasi kung hindi, every year we will be spending more on repairs,

he said.

(Perhaps they can change the designs in typhoon-prone areas because if not, we will be spending more on repairs.)

He strongly suggested that it is more prudent to spend on buildings that can withstand 200-300 kph winds.

Sen. Richard Gordon pushed to amend the National Building Code of the Philippines to give the government more flexibility in designing new classrooms.

Para makarami naglalagay lang tayo ng civil minimum. Marami nga pero marurupok. Isang buga, durog agad…There must be a national plan... We don't have to build every time there is typhoon kung matitibay naman talaga... hindi yung civil minimum,

he said.

(To build a lot of classrooms, we just place a civil minimum. However, we do have a lot of classrooms but they are not sturdy. One gust and they are destroyed….We don't have to build every time there is typhoon if we build strong ones... instead of just the civil minimum.)

Sen. Pia Cayetano, who will sponsor the Department of Education's (DepEd) 2021 budget in plenary, said that the agency has increased its allocation for the construction of classrooms.

She said that the budget will now include the construction of bathrooms in schools.

Shower areas were also suggested by Gordon to be constructed in schools as educational facilities in the Philippines are often used as evacuation centers during calamities.

Funding for shower areas in schools have yet to be included in the 2021 budget, but "that is something we can include," Cayetano said.

As of November 10, 1,390 schools were damaged due to several typhoons that plowed through the country in the last quarter of 2020, according to data from DepEd.

According to DepEd’s data, from Nov. 10, 1,390 schools were damaged due to the series of typhoons that battered the country in the last quarter of 2020. These amounts to P4.6 billion in damage to education-related infrastructure, the agency had said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged the chamber to allocate more funds to build permanent evacuation centers instead of just relying on classrooms as temporary shelters for calamity victims.

We need to focus on our preemptive response at kasama sa preparedness ang adequate evacuation centers. We do not have to rely on Filipino resiliency when we can roll out programs that make our communities disaster-resilient,

she said.

A portion of the P19-billion anti-insurgency fund for typhoon assistance programs is open for realignment if there won’t be other sources of funds according to Zubiri.