4,000 multipurpose buildings cover just 10% of barangays – solons

MANILA, Philippines — The roughly 4,000 multipurpose buildings proposed under the 2027 national budget represent only 10 percent of the country’s more than 42,000 barangays, House lawmakers said on Monday as they defended funding for community facilities.

Bataan 2nd District Rep. Albert Garcia, senior vice chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the number highlighted the continuing need for public facilities, particularly in remote communities outside Metro Manila.

“If I recall correctly, we have around 4,000 multi-purpose buildings. And how many barangays do we have? 42,000 barangays. So that is a mere 10 percent of the needs of our barangays across the nation,” Garcia said at a press conference.

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Garcia said multipurpose buildings serve as evacuation centers, covered courts, barangay meeting places, and venues for community activities.

He said some facilities in agricultural areas are also used to dry palay [unhusked rice], providing additional support to farmers.

Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Janice Degamo of Lakas said many remote sitios have no public facilities apart from schools, forcing residents to use a single structure for different community activities.

“Sometimes, in one structure, you do everything you have to do there because there are no other venues,” Degamo said in Filipino.

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Camarines Sur 4th District Rep. Arnie Fuentebella of the Nationalist People’s Coalition said the proposed 4,000 facilities would still be insufficient to meet the needs of barangays nationwide.

“If you think about those 4,000, they seem insufficient because they’re only 10 percent of the barangays in the entire Philippines,” Fuentebella said.

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He stressed that requests for multipurpose buildings originated from local officials and communities that lacked the resources to construct their own facilities.

The lawmakers made the remarks amid questions over the reported ₱43-billion increase in funding for multipurpose buildings under the House-approved 2027 national budget.

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The spending proposal is now under Senate review before bicameral deliberations. /atm