LCP, DepEd sign MOA for school building design

Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro in an ocular inspection of a public school room in Alaminos City. At the left side is Alaminos Mayor Nani Braganza

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By Mortz C. Ortigoza ALAMINOS CITY –The League of Cities of the Philippines has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Education for standard design of school buildings. LCP Secretary General Hernani Braganza, the mayor of this city, said the MOA aims to have one design of schoolbuildings all over the country, and with almost similar cost. Braganza lamented that there are public school buildings in this city that cost P700 thousand each but are almost bare. “Halos wala kang makita, tapos (declared) completed. The reality ang completed nila walang pinta,” he said. He insinuated that these kind of projects usually come from the funds of congressmen and national officials. “So siguro i-standardized na natin iyung desinyo ng classroom,” he said. But Braganza explained that the construction costs vary, depending on the distance and the season. He said that as the location gets farther the prices become bigger. “For example in Luzon, it is a lot cheaper than in Tawi-Tawi and Jolo. But people would think may tong-pat.  They should understand that bringing equipment to places is costly. Prices of sand also vary in different places,” he said. He explained that during rainy days,  the price of cement is lower compared to price during summer time. Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who was with Braganza recently in this city, reacted to a comparison between a privately constructed public school building in Pangasinan to the one built by his department. A painted private funded building with a comfort room, door knob, and ceiling cost P300 thousand only while a similar-sized room financed by DepEd that lacks the features of the former, runs up to P700,000.  ”I have seen classroom that cost P250 thousand but was built in substandard fashion. I have seen classroom done (better) than the DepEd standard and benchmark. I have seen also those nearly substandard. The budget for classroom with DepEd budget is around P650 thousand , a seven- by- nine meter, one-storey painted building.  Its difficult to say whether the P300 thousand class room is a good buy or not unless we look at the specifications,” he said. He added that there are good classrooms at P700 thousand but are smaller in size. But his department can lower the cost for the same building from P700 thousand to P550 thousand at most.