Signed Emptiness

Casee Yvonne Berrey | November 30, 2025

    Amid ongoing scrutiny of mishandled public funds, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is once again at the center of public distrust after Education Secretary Sonny Angara revealed that more than 1,000 classrooms reported as "completed" were actually unfinished, with some lacking electricity, paint, or even proper flooring. These structures were registered as accomplishments, paraded as progress, and certified as handed over despite being unsuitable for learning. The government did not merely neglect its responsibility, but also signed off on emptiness.

    Students, never consulted yet hit hardest, bear the full cost of this abandonment. For example, Grade 12 students at Antipolo City National Science and Technology High School (ACNSTHS) are still scattered across improvised and borrowed classrooms, trying to learn wherever space is available. Meanwhile, Grade 9 and Grade 10 students have had to adjust to makeshift learning areas because their building is under renovation, leaving them with no proper rooms to use. The shortage is disruptive, exhausting, and deeply demoralizing.

    Public records show that this is not an isolated failure. The Commission on Audit (COA) called out the DPWH for failing to complete ₱216 billion worth of infrastructure projects in 2023, blaming the delays on “poor project monitoring and execution.” Although funds have been released, projects have been started, and reports have been filed, completion is still a matter of definition rather than delivery.  

    The Department of Education’s (DepEd) own 2025 computation places the national classroom shortage at over 165,000 rooms — a number far too large to ignore. Yet even as this deficit grows, the government continues to treat completion as a matter of paperwork. Instead of closing the gap, agencies exaggerate achievements while schools scramble to rearrange schedules, merge classes, or shift back to modular learning just to cope with the absence of physical space.

    Hanna Gale Guiquing, a Grade 10 student at ACNSTHS, shared her frustration with the unstable class setup, explaining that constantly switching between modular and face-to-face lessons makes it hard for her to stay focused. Restricted teaching time forces students to cram requirements instead of learning at their own pace — a problem that could have been avoided if authorities had delivered promised classrooms.

    While DepEd's audit of incomplete classrooms is a good place to start, it shouldn't end with blank paperwork. Every contractor involved, approving officer, signatory to incomplete facilities needs to be publicly named. Payment for non-functional structures shall be traced and reclaimed. Public funds must not remain unrecoverable just because they were already processed.

    Classrooms should only be counted once they open their doors to students, not when they are merely listed on paper. Public funds must stop flowing into reports and start materializing into actual spaces for learning. Until every campus receives what was promised, no official statement should be accepted as progress, only as signed emptiness.