KABATAAN Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel on Thursday called on the government to allot funds for the rehabilitation of campuses affected by the Magnitude 7 earthquake.

The Department of Education said that the government will need P228.5 million to reconstruct and rehabilitate at least 35 schools damaged by the quake.

Manuel said that on top of retrofitting schools to prepare them to safely reopen in November 2022, the DepEd must guarantee that disaster-stricken learning spaces will be rehabilitated.

“The national government must focus its attention and education budget on these, not on additional funding that will be demanded by the restoration of Mandatory ROTC,” he said.

Neither teachers nor parents should shoulder the burden of making schools safe as some of them have shelled out pocket money to ensure proper facilities for face-to-face classes, the official said.

With many schools damaged by the quake, it becomes more essential for DepEd to prioritize the budget for safe school reopening and student aid, Manuel said.