DPWH to prioritize completion of 2,200 unfinished classrooms

On top of dealing with the flood control controversy, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has another massive task at hand - the completion of around 2,200 unfinished classrooms all over the country.

- RAINIER ALLAN RONDA

According to Arrey Perez, DPWH undersecretary for technical services and the National Building Code Development Office and External Convergence Projects, the agency is looking to finish the classroom building projects by itself as these are just small jobs that could be undertaken by its regional and district offices.

"We do not need big contractors to do the work of finishing the classrooms. The DPWH may be able to do the work, by administration," Perez told The STAR last Tuesday in Makati.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara previously revealed that more than 1,000 classrooms turned over by the DPWH to them were not completed and therefore, unusable.

Angara said the Department of Education had launched an audit of classrooms built by the DPWH following reports of ghost and substandard flood control projects.

ICI liaison

Meanwhile, Public Works Secretary Vivencio Dizon designated Undersecretary Samuel Rufino Turgano as focal person for the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which is investigating flood control corruption in the agency.