MANILA — Education Secretary Sonny Angara said 14 provinces nationwide are now cleared to start procurement for classroom construction projects.
This comes after the signing of a supplemental Memorandum of Agreement under the Department of Education’s Classroom Building Program.
The participating provinces are Ifugao, Sorsogon, Mountain Province, Abra, Quezon, Samar, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, Oriental Mindoro, Biliran, Dinagat Islands, Misamis Oriental, Southern Leyte, and Siquijor.
Angara said the initiative is aligned with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s directive to speed up the construction of education facilities by empowering local government units as implementing partners.
“Sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng lokal na kapasidad at kaalaman, mas mabilis nating maitatayo ang mga silid-aralan na kailangang-kailangan ng ating mga guro at mag-aaral,” he said.
DepEd has also conducted two online technical workshops with LGUs to support a smooth implementation. These included discussions on program of work details, engineering and architectural designs, procurement schedules, and sample bidding documents.
The department is expected to sign 37 more supplemental agreements in the coming weeks, as it moves to complete coverage of all remaining provinces and cities in the next phase.
Several LGUs and Schools Division Offices have likewise conducted market scoping and site validation to ensure project readiness.
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