Senator Bam Aquino, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, announced that the first tranche of the ₱67.8 billion fund for the construction of classrooms nationwide through Local Government Units (LGUs) is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
The ₱67.8 billion is intended to fund the construction of 25,000 to 30,000 classrooms by 2026, he said.
The goal is for the P67.9 billion to be fully downloaded before the end of March, Aquino said.
The senator who met with the mayors at the Bago City Community Center on Thursday, Feb . 12, discussed the Classroom Building Acceleration Program and sought their support to help hasten the construction of classrooms to close the shortage gap.
The Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) aims to address the significant classroom shortage in the Philippines by empowering local government units and NGOs to construct classrooms efficiently and effectively, Aquino said.
CAP is aligned with Senate Bill No. 1482 (the Classroom-Building Acceleration Program Act), which recently passed its third and final reading in the Senate.
The CAP Act, proposed by Aquino, seeks to decentralize the construction process, allowing qualified private-sector partners and local governments to take an active role in building.
By shifting this responsibility to the LGUs, Aquino explained that construction becomes both cheaper and faster to execute.
This move is part of a broader strategy to systematically resolve the nationwide shortage of 166,000 classrooms that has persisted since last year, Aquino said.
Aquino highlighted the urgency of the situation, noting that while the gap had previously narrowed to 10,000 classrooms back in 2017, it has since expanded significantly.
The Department of Publics Works and Highways built 99 classrooms in 2025. However, under the leadership of Secretary Vince Dizon, the DPWH has promised to build 3,000 classrooms using their 2024–2025 budget, Aquino said.*
[sibwp_form id=1]