Drilon-FFCCCII partnership to build more classrooms in 8 provinces

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Franklin Drilon has allocated P50 million of his P200 million priority development assistance fund (PDAF) or pork barrel fund for the construction of new low-cost classrooms in at least eight provinces.

As in his previous years in the Senate, Drilon specified the use of a portion of his PDAF for the construction of classrooms by the Department of Public Works and Highways through the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII).

The partnership between Drilon and the FFCCCII has been going on for close to a decade already and was forged because of the capability of the organization to construct classrooms at half the cost of the ones being built by the Department of Education.

In a memorandum of agreement signed between Drilon and the FFCCCII last Tuesday night, it was stated that P50 million from the Senator’s PDAF would be used to construct new classrooms in provinces including Benguet, Bulacan, Laguna, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Zamboanga and Davao.

“We have been supporting the school-building program with the FFCCCII for nearly a decade now to contribute to the country’s educational infrastructure,” Drilon said.

According to Drilon, around 1,400 classrooms all over the country have been constructed through the Drilon-FFCCCII partnership which started in 2002.

“We are doing this because we are investing in the future of the youth,” Drilon said.