(FILE PHOTO)
TACLOBAN CITY — Thousands of children in far-flung and conflict-affected communities are expected to benefit from a P3-billion allocation under the 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), aimed at strengthening access to quality basic education through the government’s Last Mile Schools Program, Eastern Samar Representative Christopher Sheen Gonzales said.
Gonzales, who serves as House assistant minority leader, said the funding will help build and equip public schools in geographically isolated, disadvantaged, and conflict-affected areas (GIDCAs), many of which lack classrooms, teachers, and basic learning facilities.
“This program is a lifeline for our children in remote communities,” Gonzales said. “The goal is to ensure that no learner is left behind just because they live in areas far from the town centers.”
The P3-billion allocation will finance not only the construction of classrooms but also the installation of solar power systems, water and sanitation facilities, internet connectivity, and technical-vocational laboratories for schools located off the national grid.
Gonzales emphasized that his home province, Eastern Samar, has at least 41 barangays classified as GIDCAs, underscoring the urgent need to address educational inequality in the countryside.
He expressed support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to decentralize the school building program, allowing local government units (LGUs) to take the lead in implementing projects.
“In hard-to-reach barangays, it’s more practical for municipal governments to manage construction, with the assistance of the Philippine Army’s engineering brigades,” Gonzales noted.
A former mayor of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Gonzales said he has seen firsthand the struggles of students in island and upland communities like Homonhon Island, which can only be reached via a two-and-a-half-hour boat ride from the mainland.
The lawmaker, who sits on the House Committees on Basic Education and Appropriations, is also a principal author of House Bill No. 4745, or the Last Mile Schools Act, which seeks to institutionalize the program launched by the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2019.
The House of Representatives approved the measure on third and final reading on October 13, and it has since been transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.
“The passage of this bill will make the Last Mile Schools Program a lasting commitment of government—to reach every Filipino learner, no matter how far,” Gonzales said.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
