Fund transfer delays Bicol schools repair

LEGAZPI CITY--A TOP education regional official said President Macapagal-Arroyo’s order to transfer funds for the rehabilitation of school buildings from the Department of Education to the Department of Public Works and Highways might raise legal issues since the school principals had already conducted bidding for the projects.

DepEd regional director Celedonio Layon said the transfer of funds might mess up the agency’s ongoing rehabilitation projects.

The problem cropped up after the President, during her visit to the Barangay Anislag Resettlement Site in Daraga, Albay, on Friday, publicly chided the DepEd for the slow rehabilitation of schools damaged by typhoons late last year.

Ms Arroyo cited reports from Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya that only seven percent of the rehabilitation projects of the DepEd under the Calamity Assistance Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) fund had been completed.

She gave instructions for the funds, formerly allotted to the DepEd, to be rechanneled to the DPWH as suggested by Albay Rep. Reno Lim (first district).

Accomplishment report

Layon, however, said it was not true that only seven percent of the projects had been implemented.

Furnishing the Inquirer a copy of printed accomplishment figures, Layon said that in Albay alone, 42.44 percent of the rehabilitation of 485 public schools in the three congressional districts had been accomplished with a total funding of P368.3 million.

In a mobile phone interview, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus stressed that the CARE fund came from the World Bank and, therefore, its use is subject to the bank’s requirements.

World Bank money

“A principal-led implementation is always faster compared to the regular school program of the DPWH, which is dependent on the efficiency of the congressmen to identify schools,” he said.

“In contrast, the DepEd can easily identify schools to be constructed depending on the school shortages per school,” he added.

In any case, he added, the amounts involved in the rehabilitation of the schools that have been contracted can no longer be taken back or realigned.

A total of 2,238 schools in all six provinces in Bicol are being rehabilitated by the DepEd with a total special allotment release order of P1.2 billion from the P2-billion CARE fund.

A total of 6,562 classrooms have to be repaired, while 733 have to be constructed.

Ms Arroyo visited the Anislag Resettlement Site last week to distribute certificates of occupancy to 61 families from Barangay Binitayan who were displaced from their homes due to the series of typhoons last year. Jaymee T. Gamil and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon