The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has reported a low completion rate for its 2025 classroom construction projects, with only 22 classrooms completed out of the 1,700 targeted for the year, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said during the 2026 budget hearing, on Monday, October 20.
According to Dizon, 882 classrooms are currently under construction, while the remaining projects are still in the procurement or pre-construction stages.
“Sobrang baba nito. For 2025, out of 1,700 na dapat gawin, 22 pa lang po ang completed at 882 ang ongoing,” Dizon told Senator Bam Aquino, acknowledging the slow progress of the department’s school infrastructure program.
The delays in classroom construction, also manifested in building evacuation centers across the country.
Dizon said that 13 out of 32 evacuation centers planned for 2025 have already been completed, representing nearly 40% of the total target.
“Roughly P650 million out of the budgeted P1.6 billion for 2025 ang gawa na po,” he added. “Ongoing po ‘yong natitirang evacuation centers for 2025.”
The DPWH chief assured lawmakers that the department will be working to expedite construction and address the lapses that have delayed several infrastructure projects, particularly those under the education and disaster-preparedness sectors.
Meanwhile, Dizon is in the works at the senate this day for the 2026 budget hearing while answering possible projects that could be an alternative from the overpriced flood control projects listed.
