DepEd: 42,000 schools considered ‘squatters’

MANILA, Philippines - Some 42,000 public schools all over the country are squatting on various government and privately-owned lands, officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) told lawmakers yesterday.

According to Education Undersecretary Alfredo Muyot, out of the over 46,000 public elementary and high schools in the country only about 4,000 sit on lands titled under the name of the DepEd or other government entities.

He said 1,908 public schools sit on lands titled under the DepEd, 1,816 have titles held by local government units, and 348 have lands granted to them under various presidential decrees.

He said 41,924 public schools sit on lands whose titles are not held by the government.

“Most of the land — since the processes (of transfer of ownership) are not yet finished — are still on deeds of donation or just tax declarations,” Muyot said in Filipino during the deliberations of the proposed budget of the DepEd for 2014.

The official’s disclosure prompted ABAKADA-Guro party-list Rep. Jonathan De la Cruz to prod the DepEdto hasten the transfer of ownership.

“We might be evicted,” De la Cruz said.