Some state universities and colleges (SUCs) are moving to complete infrastructure projects worth more than P5 million on their own, instead of letting the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) handle them, according to Pinoy Workers party-list Rep. Karl Josef Legazpi on Wednesday.
During the House sponsorship and plenary deliberations on the proposed SUC budget for next year, Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co raised concerns about delayed completion of infrastructure projects at several SUCs, citing the University of the Philippines-Diliman faculty center and the north academic building at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Sta. Mesa as examples.
Co then asked if Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1, issued by the DPWH and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on the implementation of infrastructure projects in SUCs was related to the delays in their completion. The circular, signed in 2024, provides that the DPWH will implement projects worth more than P5 million.
‘Based on the information that they provided, they deemed that they are already capable of taking over the completion of the said projects and they are also committing to help other universities do the same to take the completion of projects into their own hands,’ Legazpi, the budget sponsor of SUCs, said.
However, Legazpi did not disclose which SUCs are seeking to handle their own infrastructure projects.
Legazpi also shared that the University of the Philippines had already decided to implement the construction and completion of its projects under its own budget. He added that the completion of the new College of Arts and Letters, the main library rehabilitation and the faculty center on its Diliman campus was ongoing.
Legazpi added that there is no memorandum seeking to reverse the joint circular of the DPWH and CHEd.
Co then said that SUCs’ lack of fiscal autonomy in implementing their infrastructure projects causes delays.
‘This representation agrees that SUCs should be allowed to exercise their fiscal autonomy, especially for projects exceeding P5 million. There are many of these; even a simple repair of a building because it is prone to flooding can cost more than P5 million, and they cannot do it unless they loop in the DPWH,’ Co stressed.