Cayetano to DepEd: "Issue implementing guidelines
for insurance coverage of school buildings

Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to immediately craft implementing guidelines for the insurance coverage of school buildings in order to aid in the rehabilitation of schools damaged by floods and other natural calamities.

The minority leader pointed out that DepEd has an existing insurance budget for the purpose of insuring school buildings from unforeseen damages.

He lamented, however, that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has yet to authorize the release of the insurance funds for various schools in the country owing to the absence of implementing guidelines.

"The government continues to lose millions in funds in rehabilitating schools when the insurance should be covering the damages to the buildings," he said.

"If the funds are there but are not being utilized for their intended purpose then we are doing our constituents a grave injustice. In this case, if the only roadblock in the utilization of the insurance fund for school buildings is the lack of the implementing guidelines then DepEd must not delay with its issuance," he said.

The senator noted that the DepEd estimate of the total damage to public schools due to Typhoon Sendong in Northern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) amounts to P105.95 million.

A total of 39 schools with 406 classrooms were damaged. Damage on the buildings alone was placed at P79.6 million.

He stressed that DepEd should already learn from the consequences of damages caused by typhoons.

He cited how Typhoon Sendong continues to affect school children and their studies in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.

Cayetano also urged government authorities to rush the rehabilitate of damaged schools before the rainy season sets in.

"We owe it to the victims of Typhoon Sendong, particularly the school children, to come to their aid as quickly and as efficiently as possible. They've been inconvenienced enough and will be subjected to more discomfort if we leave their needs unfulfilled with the onset of the rainy season," he said.