BINOWANG Elementary School in Paquibato District is set to get a three-story, nine-classroom building, a project now estimated to cost ₱40 million, a little over ₱8 million more than the amount approved in 2023.
The Davao City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance allowing Mayor Sebastian Duterte to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the three-story building in Barangay Fatima.
Councilor Antoinette Principe, chair of the Committee on Education, Science and Technology, sponsored the measure.
During the session, she detailed in the committee report that Binowang Elementary School has 368 learners and 16 teaching personnel. Principal Jimmy Cedeño told the committee that the school's existing classrooms have deteriorated, and the report says the oldest classroom building dates to 1964.
A city-built building completed in 2024 is being used as a Home Economics building, not for regular classes.
The project has ₱31.8 million in the city's Development Fund, approved in a 2023 supplemental budget, which the City Budget Office has certified as still available.
Principe said the MOA is needed before the money can be released, and that the funds could be reverted if the agreement is not signed soon.
Engineer Arjean Humamoy of the City Engineer's Office told the council the updated estimate is now about ₱40 million because of higher construction costs, or ₱8.2 million more. The ₱31.8 million can build a usable building with plumbing, electrical works, doors and windows, she said, but not the tiles and painting.
Principe said the budget also covers blackboards, while DepEd will provide chairs and other furniture, as the city's allocation covers only the building.
Councilor Diosdado Angelo Junior Mahipus asked whether the 2023 appropriation is still enough.
"We have experienced some government buildings that were constructed and not finished," Mahipus said, warning that an unfinished building might not be safely usable.
"It can still be safely usable," Humamoy replied.
Meanwhile, Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, who is a co-sponsor of the ordinance, asked the engineer's office to work with the Local Finance Committee so the remaining amount can be included in next year's annual budget or in a supplemental budget this year.
Humamoy said her office will prepare a cost estimate for the shortfall.
Chairperson of the Ethics and Good Governance Committee, Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, also asked Principe to commit to tapping the Special Education Fund (SEF) for the balance.
"I do not like to rely on the funding from the city because there might be no more fiscal space," he said.
Principe said she will recommend to the Local School Board, which meets this month to plan for 2027, to earmark ₱9 million for Binowang, or that the money come from a supplemental budget, whichever comes first.