As the Senate continues its review of the government’s expanded public-private partnership program, Sen. Raffy Tulfo called on the Department of Education to strengthen screening and monitoring of contractors involved in the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project 1 and 2.
During a Senate committee on basic education hearing, Sen. Raffy Tulfo criticized the Department of Education's inadequate assessment of private firms participating in the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP). He linked this to ongoing complaints from parents and teachers about substandard facilities, such as deteriorating ceilings, poor ventilation and insulation, and unsanitary restrooms.
Under PSIP, private companies build, furnish, and maintain public school classrooms, with the government paying them over 10 years or more before transferring ownership to the state. Tulfo argued that stricter oversight could enforce warranty and maintenance provisions to address defects promptly.
He questioned the inclusion of companies like Vicente T. Lao Construction, flagged in September 2025 for a defective underpass in General Santos City, and D.M. Consunji Inc., accused of falsified documents and substandard condominium work. Tulfo urged a more rigorous screening process for future PSIP projects to ensure proper use of public funds.
He also proposed incorporating disaster- and calamity-resilient specifications in PSIP 3, as public schools often serve as evacuation centers and have suffered damage from typhoons and earthquakes. DepEd Undersecretary for strategic management Ronald Mendoza agreed to include such provisions in upcoming policies.
Tulfo pushed for mandatory warranties and maintenance of up to 10 years to prevent parents and teachers associations from bearing repair costs. Mendoza committed to tightening bidding procedures, ensuring facilities are fully completed and maintained before releasing funds, and providing a list of flagged contractors for potential blacklisting.
Committee chair Sen. Bam Aquino called for data on the failure rate of the 13,000 classrooms built under PSIP. “Sometimes, when a project is turned over, you don’t immediately know there’s a problem until a typhoon hits. PTAs are not engineers who can easily detect structural issues. We would like to see the data – the failure or problem rate out of the 13,000 classrooms,” Aquino said. “We need to know whether we’re talking about hundreds or thousands. Obviously, for the program to continue, the majority of the 13,000 classrooms should be in good condition. But if the failure rate is 70 percent, why should we continue it?” he added.
Meanwhile, amid scrutiny of long-term programs, DepEd has launched a classroom leasing initiative as an interim solution. Education Secretary Sonny Angara operationalized it yesterday, with the first leased facility now serving senior high school students in congested Laguna province. This repurposes a private school that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, easing double-shift arrangements and improving learning conditions.
“We are not setting aside the construction of new classrooms. Classroom construction is still ongoing in the entire country. But while we are doing this, we also need to think of other practical and immediate solutions such as classroom leasing so that the students and the teachers need not wait for years before we have a proper learning facility,” Angara said.
An estimated 700 to 800 private schools closed during the pandemic, and DepEd is assessing them for potential leasing in high-need areas.
