Kiko pushes tax incentives, public-private partnerships to fast-track classroom construction

KIKO PUSHES TAX INCENTIVES, PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS TO FAST-TRACK CLASSROOM CONSTRUCTION

To close the country's 165,000-classroom backlog in less than the projected 55 years, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan is pushing for tax incentives and stronger public-private partnerships (PPP) to speed up school building.

Under the proposed Classroom Building Acceleration Program Act, Pangilinan wants private sector participation and LGU counterpart funding written into law--policies that cannot be easily scrapped by future administrations.

"We should protect effective classroom-building programs from politics, partisanship, and personal agendas," Pangilinan said. "If a program works, it should continue."

The senator questioned why the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) discontinued an Aquino-era scheme where the national government and LGUs split the cost of classroom construction 50-50, alongside PPPs.

"If the matching by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and the LGU of 50-50 plus the PPP as a policy worked, why did DepEd and DPWH change it? Why was it changed? Why was it not continued?" Pangilinan asked during the joint hearing of the Senate's basic education, local government, and finance committees.

His questions came after Senator Win Gatchalian, who was mayor of Valenzuela City during the first half of the Aquino administration, said his city was a direct beneficiary of the counterparting program by the late President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and then-Budget Secretary Butch Abad.

"In my personal experience, effective siya. I remembered we were given 50% of the funding from DepEd and then 50% will come from the local government," Gatchalian recalled. "Effective in a sense because sabay-sabay kami nagpapatayo ng buildings... in a matter of one year, sabay-sabay kami natatapos."

DepEd Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral agreed that the counterparting program was a success, admitting that it was dropped after the change in administration.

"The counterparting agreement really was a good practice before, but in the change of administration, this was not considered," Cabral said.

During the Aquino years, counterparting and PPPs built 185,000 classrooms from 2010 to 2016, eliminating the 66,000-classroom backlog, according to a 2016 report by former DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro.

Pangilinan also noted the higher costs under the current DepEd-DPWH setup--₱2.5 million to ₱3.8 million per classroom--versus ₱1.5 million to ₱2 million under LGU-private sector partnerships.

"If we restore counterparting and PPPs, we can deliver more classrooms for the same budget--and do it much faster," he said.

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Note: See hearing proceedings at 1:57:00-2:10:00 in this video for additional context: https://www.facebook.com/senateph/videos/762932482952089

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