PAGCOR to fund 456 classrooms in 38 LGUs as shortage drags on

A teacher cleans a classroom at an elementary school in Manila on June 13, 2025, ahead of the opening of classes on June 16.

AFP / Jam Sta Rosa

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) will fund the construction of 456 classrooms in public schools in 38 cities and municipalities, the Department of Education said on Thursday, September 24.

It is the second round of a program in which local governments can now take charge of the construction of school facilities, a mandate previously limited to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Each of the 38 local government units (LGUs) will get P55 million, or P2.09 billion in total, to build a three-story school building with 12 classrooms, DepEd said. 

The buildings are due for completion by the end of 2027.

DepEd struggles to trim its classroom shortage to keep pace with the growing student population in basic education every year. 

The department puts the backlog at 143,543 classrooms as of June 2026, down from 165,443 at the start of the Marcos administration.

Meanwhile, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), citing DepEd's own National School Building Inventory, told a House hearing in July that the gap is still more than 166,000.

"One of the biggest challenges that we face in the department is the shortage of classrooms," Education Secretary Sonny Angara said at the signing ceremony of DepEd's memorandum of agreement with PAGCOR. 

Angara noted that the shortage will continue to grow as current school buildings are aging and disasters damage school facilities every year.

PAGCOR will release the money in three tranches, each subject to technical compliance and progress monitoring. 

Meanwhile, the LGUs will run procurement and construction under government procurement laws and approved architectural plans. DepEd will own, run and maintain the buildings once they are completed. 

This is the second batch of LGUs under the program. In March, PAGCOR signed agreements with 21 LGUs for each to construct a three-story building with 12 classrooms, or 252 classrooms in total. 

The two batches bring the total to 708 classrooms in 59 LGUs.

DepEd this year has given LGUs the leeway to pursue their own school infrastructure projects after years of missed targets.

  Since 2018, only the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had been allowed to carry out DepEd-funded school building projects.

In 2023, the department finished the construction of only 192 classrooms out of a total of 6,379.  

Under the 2026 national budget, LGUs can now act as primary implementers of school building projects, alongside the DPWH and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Corps of Engineers.