THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released billions in funds to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the construction and repair of school buildings and installation and upgrading of sanitation facilities in schools nationwide.
In a statement, the DBM on Monday said that it released P3.07 billion to Education department from the P11.3-billion DepEd Basic Educational Facilities Funds (BEFF) for 2011.

This amount will support the construction or rehabilitation of 6.676 classrooms throughout the country as well as the installation or repair of toilets in 3,274 school sites.

“The Aquino administration is committed to closing the supply gap in much-needed learning facilities.

The classrooms we are building or rehabilitating under the BEFF will also be provided with complete furniture and other facilities,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said.

A total of P10.09 billion has been released from the educational facility.

In May, the Budget department released a total of P7.02 billion from BEFF for the construction or repair of 8,997 classrooms nationwide.

Of the P3.07 billion that was released, P646 million will benefit schools in Metro Manila, which experiences acute classroom shortages; P346 million in Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon area; and P245 million in Bicol Region.

Abad also said that the budget for DepEd is proposed to be increased by 15.2 percent to P238.8 billion in the proposed 2012 national budget from P207.3 billion in 2011.

In particular, the BEFF is proposed to be beefed up by 54.28 percent to P17.4 billion from P11.3 billion.