By Anthony A. Araos
There was a vivid moment, albeit brief but surely shocking, that said everything about the problem on the lack of classrooms in this poverty-stricken province.
Make no mistake about it. The classroom shortage problem in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is a serious one. The Department of Education (DepEd) said the region is in need of 20,030 classrooms. Of this number, Ifugao accounts for 288. ZigZag Weekly aptly bannered this matter in its June 14, 2026 issue.
Life can be too harsh for young learners in a situation faced with this problem. Consider what might be the consequences of your loved one is studying under the mango tree. The inconvenience of putting them in a congested classroom will make a stomach turn in an unimaginable way.
Despicable conditions in dimly-lighted, congested and dilapidated classrooms conjured up my fears around the inability to address this longstanding problem. Why is this still taking place despite the drumbeating of the “Bagong Pilipinas” slogan of Palace bootlickers? I’ve seen heartbreaking scenes of crowded classrooms in Ifugao. Yet, there are still those who refused to accept reality, those who chose passivity over pro-active stance. There is nothing to justify their stupidity.
The DepEd’s dream of modernizing the education sector through the construction of new classrooms is in crumbles due to lack of funding. Increased budgetary allocation for education
To significantly boost these efforts is stymied by rampancy corruption. I need not ask an old question: Why millions of funds are being pocketed by crooks who are largely addressed as “Honorable” by unthinking people?
A current senator is in detention on plunder charges. Yes, for the third time. His father was convicted of the same offense. Yes, a former president, plunderer and pardoned by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He even was elected mayor of Manila. Yes, people do get struck by lightning more than once. Yes, they emerged “winners” because of the “bobotantes.” Strange in a very bad way! No wonder there are stupid officials. It’s very sad the “bobotantes” continue to display their knack for embracing their vote-buying schemes.
In the Philippines, big-time crooks are allowed to go scot free. They have been disgraced and dishonored. Yet, these stupid voters revered their names forever, adored them to the end of time.
Alas, the Senate woke up to the reality. The education committee chairmanship was given back to Sen. Bam Aquino. In the first place, amid the deepening education crisis handing it to Sen. Robin Padilla, also catapulted to power by a horde of stupid voters, was a practical, bad joke.
No need to be parrying questions, but it’s obvious. The worsening classroom shortage problem only deepens what is already a deepening education crisis.
Ideally, today is the time to push the “Education Agenda” for the 2028 polls. It’s time to signal a big push for real, tangible changes in the lives of young learners.
This agenda is an essential, long-term promotion of concerns in the education sector to ensure better and most effective use of resources thus, building more classrooms, hiring more teachers and increasing the pay of teachers most especially the good ones to keep them from leaving for jobs in other countries. The money can also be used to upgrade the teachers’ skills to produce better textbooks and other related materials. The result is to make sure that students are ready to a higher level of education.
Staying true to my advocacy for better learning competency among public school learners, I’m calling on the national government to decisively and swiftly address these problems in Ifugao and the region. Cordillera children are in dire need of new, spacious and safe classrooms where they can learn.**
