DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Lumad advocates demand a public investigation on two incomplete school buildings worth P36-million in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.
The anomaly, reported in local news following a probe by the Commission on Audit (COA), angered Save Our Schools (SOS) Network and Sabokahan IP Women, since Lumad schools were forcibly closed after red-tagging, yet the government failed to provide education for the children.
COA region 11 flagged the Department of Education Davao del Norte Division in November 2025 for non-implementation of the building of Camingawan Elementary School, and the partial completion of Dulyan Integrated School.
The construction is part of the Last Mile Schools Programs intended to address education gaps in far-away rural places.
Deped Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo was quoted in a news report that the incomplete building projects cost P36 million, a portion of which was already released by the department to the building contractor.
Atillo confirmed that three top officials of the Davao del Norte Division are suspended pending the COA investigation.
SOS and Sabokahan in a statement identified the suspended officials: Schools Division Superintendent Reynaldo Mellondio, Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Janette Veloso, and Division Engineer Elillou Jumawan.
The groups call this anomaly shameful and condemnable, as they noted this stands in contrast to the 55 Salugpongan Lumad schools in Talaingod were built by NGOs in the late 2000s that provided education which the DepEd failed in the past.
“Lumad schools were free, community-based and our volunteer teachers earned only a humble stipend,” the group said.
“To have closed these schools through force, especially through militarization, is itself a gross crime. But to receive a budget of P36,357,670.57 for two projects alleging to place some of these schools in Talaingod and then fail to implement and deliver, is especially cruel, corrupt, and condemnable!” they said.
The Salugpongan schools was initiated by the Talaingod chieftains in coordination with NGOs and was part of DepEd’s Alternative Learning System.
Marcos – Duterte failures
During the middle of the Duterte administration, 216 Lumad schools all over Mindanao, including Salugpongan, had their permits revoked after the implementation of the Whole-of-Nation approach that red-tagged the Lumad schools without basis. Around 10,000 students from these Lumad schools were disenfranchised, some absorbed into DepEd schools.
SOS and Sabokahan stressed that then Mayor Sara Duterte was one of the “initiators” urging DepEd to close the Lumad schools.
The group said the government’s Last Miles School Program, launched in 2019, had serious backlogs during the tenure of Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary.
“An audit report found that only 22 out of 98 of the program’s schools were completed by 2023 despite having a P211.2 million fees,” they noted.
The group said that aside from the COA auditing, there should be a public investigation for transparency over DepEd projects in Lumad areas. (davaotoday.com)
