Cost-effective solutions To classroom shortage

There is much hullabaloo about the classroom shortage in the country. This story sounds like an old, sad song that is replayed year in and year out prior to every June opening of classes. Government officials, including President Arroyo, quibbled over official figures on the gravity of this problem and the usual knee-jerk reactions poured from self-professed do-gooders.

Of course, the Johnny-come-lately assistance to solve the classroom shortage was through the courtesy of the members of the Bicameral (bicam) Conference Committee of Congress who decided to increase the budget of Department of Education (DepEd) by P2.6 billion. This was from the original P2 billion in the consolidated version of the Senate-House proposed budget for 2006.

The additional budget for DepEd was supposed to translate from around 6,500 to 7,000 new classrooms for this school year. The original P2-billion budget of the Department covers already the construction of approximately 3,300 classrooms. With this proposed increase in the DepEd budget, the construction of new classrooms would therefore be doubled. Thus, the projected classroom shortage would then be addressed.

But before the government can address this problem, our lawmakers must pass first and approve into law the 2006 budget bill. The sad story of classroom shortage came to fore anew last week when the much- vaunted temper of President Arroyo flared in full view.

Already a public knowledge, the President has this nasty habit of losing her cool, no matter who, or whenever her "gas-burner" temper erupts. This is how she describes her temper flares which she likens to a gas burner that is easily ignited but nonetheless easily turned off. A number of Cabinet and other government officials have survived these presidential tempers. On a positive note, some of these Arroyo eruptions benefited the Filipino people when it resulted to better public services by errant or truant officials.

The late DepEd Secretary Raul Roco, during the first few months of the Arroyo administration in 2001, had aptly put it before his fellow Department Secretaries in a Cabinet meeting at Malacañang Palace. Roco shared his words of wisdom with his Cabinet colleagues on "Who’s the Boss?" He told them they must all observe the two cardinal rules in dealing with their Lady Boss. Rule No.1 – The Boss is always right. Rule No. 2 – When in doubt, go back to Rule No. 1.

Some of Roco’s egotistical fellow Cabinet officials took offense to these seeming tongue-in-cheek remarks by the late DepEd Secretary. Subsequently, Roco followed his own advice. He left the Arroyo Cabinet in August 2002 when he obviously could no longer accept the thought that his Lady Boss can not be right when she is definitely wrong. Several other original Arroyo Cabinet members also left the official family after realizing they, too, should stop fooling themselves they could live with this kind of rule.

During the Cabinet meeting at the Palace last Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo got pissed off at the start of discussions on the main item of their agenda on the preparations of the various government agencies for this year’s school opening. At the receiving end of the latest presidential outburst was DepEd officer-in-charge (OIC) Fe Hidalgo. As much reported in the media, Hidalgo ignited the "gas-burner" temper of the President over official figures of the actual classroom shortage in the country.

It was just around the same period sometime in 2004, I remember while I was still covering the Palace. One of the Cabinet members blew the whistle that the President bawled out then Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) "acting" Secretary Florante Soriquez during their Cabinet meeting also on a similar issue of classroom shortage. Soriquez incurred the President’s ire when the former DPWH chief insisted that they would follow the design of the DPWH engineers on the construction of two-classroom school buildings all over the country.

Soriquez argued this even while the President had already instructed him to follow the construction design of the two-classroom school building put up in a number of depressed areas in the country through the projects undertaken by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII). Given the usual budgetary constraints, Mrs. Arroyo underscored the need for cost-effective means to construct additional classrooms and she cited that the FFCCCII construction design suited the government’s requirements.

The FFCCCII, headed at that time by Filipino-Chinese taipan Lucio Tan, were able to build two-classroom school houses at less than P200,000 each. The DPWH school building program costs the government more than double that amount. The President may not be an engineer, but one cannot mislead a former economics professor on what cost-effective means.

In the wake of a looming fiscal crisis and classroom shortage problems, Speaker Jose de Venecia, it would be recalled, organized an impromptu fund campaign during the presidential state visit to China in September 2004 taking note of the presence of Tan, SM mall magnate Henry Sy, Metrobank chairman George Ty, and other Filipino-Chinese taipans who largely comprised the businessmen delegation of Mrs. Arroyo to Beijing. De Venecia gallantly started the pledging session right at the presidential plane and threw his personal P1 million contribution and passed around the hat.

The President and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo chipped in their P1 million personal donation. Presidential brother-in-law Bacolod Rep. Iggy Arroyo who was with the official delegation to China gave P1 million. Three Cabinet officials in the delegation, namely, Vince Perez of Energy, Cesar Purisima of Trade and Industry, and Arthur Yap of Agriculture– holding these respective posts at that time, contributed P500,000 each, and former Tourism Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan donated P200,000.

De Venecia was able to raise as much as P300 million in actual donations and pledges. Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri even filed a resolution in 2004 proposing that each member of the House donate one month’s worth of his salary – about P35,000 – to the fund drive in response to the Speaker’s appeal and as a gesture of solidarity with those who wish to help the nation overcome its budget deficit. The fund drive was later called "Pera Para sa Pilipinas Fund" and the President entrusted this to former Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong advising her to receive all contributions and donations.

I just don’t know whatever happened to this Fund after that and if ever these funds indeed were used to build new classrooms. I just prayed it did not go to the DPWH-administered school building program.

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