Oreta: Schoolbuildings overpriced by 50%

School buildings constructed under the government’s school-for-every-barangay program are overpriced by 50 percent compared to those done by the private sector, Sen. Teresa Aquino Oreta said yesterday.

Oreta, a former head of the Senate committee on education, arts and culture, said the Arroyo administration was building overpriced school buildings with inadequate facilities.

She cited a study done by her staff showing that school buildings constructed under President Arroyo’s school-for-every-barangay program contains only one classroom each, and one urinal. The ceiling, blackboard, paint and board have to be provided by the local government units concerned.

How much do these bare one-room buildings cost taxpayers? A hefty P250,000. In contrast, a school building done by the Filipino Chinese Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCFCCI) as part of its civic projects costs P300,000 but has two classrooms with one urinal each, and the ceiling, blackboards, paint and boards included in the cost.

"One could not help but assume from these facts that taxpayers are paying too much for President Arroyo’s school building program," Oreta said.

She urged the government to follow the private sector’s example to "perhaps build a lot more classrooms and lower the perennial backlog."

If the government builds a one-classroom building for P250,000 that lacks the basic requirements, then it will need P500,00 to construct two of these. This means there is an overprice of P200,000 compared to the well-furnished two-classroom structure built by FCFCCI, Oreta said.

Oreta said she decided to look into the issue after learning during a recent budget hearing of the Department of Education (DepEd) from Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus that the government spends for bare but overpriced school buildings.

Earlier, Oreta expressed concern that efforts to widen the access of the poor to basic education may suffer serious setbacks next year due to shortages in teachers, textbooks, classrooms, and school equipment as a result of anemic allocations for essential expenses under the proposed 2003 budget for education submitted by Malacañang to Congress.