GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — Moving to restore normalcy across Southern Mindanao’s crippled public utility network following a catastrophic seismic event, top national leaders have initiated structural evaluations across the region’s hardest-hit academic hubs. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Education Secretary Sonny Angara arrived in General Santos City to assess rebuilding schedules.
The high-level site inspections follow the violent, offshore magnitude-7.8 earthquake on Monday, June 8, 2026, which struck precisely during the highly anticipated opening week of public classes.
Accompanied by Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, the executive delegation prioritized structural walkthroughs across major city campuses to isolate heavily compromised facilities:
[ THE GENSAN CAMPUS EVALUATIONS ]
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[ ROMANA C. ACHARON ELEMENTARY ] [ GENSAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ]
• **Ground Zero Assessment:** Top officials surveyed immediate • **Demolition Frameworks:** Engineering briefs confirmed that multiple
cracks and wall fractures scoring the main multi-story complexes.• classrooms sustained catastrophic structural compromises.
• **Structural Safety Checks:** Joint engineering task forces have• **Condemned Facilities:** The DPWH has already marked heavily
been ordered to establish clear, localized red-zones to keep • shifted high-school buildings for systematic dismantling and
learners out of harm's way. • total replacement.
Because the subterranean rupture near Maasim, Sarangani, triggered intense, long-duration ground movement across multiple provinces, the Department of Education (DepEd) logged immediate closures and infrastructure damage:
[ SOUTHERN MINDANAO EDUCATION CASUALTIES ] │ ▼[ 1,022 Damaged Schools ] ──► DepEd Disaster Risk Services officially recorded heavy structural impacts tearing through a total of **1,022 public schools** across five separate administrative regions. │ ▼[ The Geographic Hotspots ]──► **South Cotabato** reported the most severe facility losses at 194 schools, closely followed by **North Cotabato** (172) and **Sultan Kudarat** (157). │ ▼[ Classroom Impact Log ] ──► Cumulative tallies reveal **4,622 impacted classrooms**, including 1,442 with major structural compromises, 1,462 totally destroyed, and 146 broken WASH stations.
To ensure that academic operational freezes do not extend indefinitely into the school year, national budget planners have structured an immediate, two-phase financial package.
| Funding Track Phase | Estimated Fiscal Capital | Real-World Operational Application in 2026 |
| Initial Response Releases | ₱21.90 Million | Disbursed immediately on June 10 to clear hazardous debris and set up temporary learn-spaces. |
| Minor Repair Baseline Account | ₱245.80 Million | Calculated at a fixed baseline of ₱49,000 per classroom to patch up the 4,398 minimally cracked rooms. |
| Heavy Reconstruction Estimates | Pending Assessment | Final multi-billion allocations will be determined once joint DPWH-DepEd teams finish analyzing condemned sites. |
“Alongside ensuring the safety of our schools is the preparation for their swift repair and resumption of operations. As the President says, Mindanao will not be left behind… We are moving quickly from assessment to action to ensure learning disruptions are minimized,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara stated during the General Santos field briefing.
The joint inspection of General Santos City’s damaged schools by President Marcos Jr. and Secretary Sonny Angara highlights the critical nature of the state’s recovery efforts. Striking right at the start of the school year, the magnitude-7.8 earthquake has completely upended the lives of thousands of young learners, leaving 1,462 classrooms totally destroyed. While DepEd’s rapid deployment of ₱21.9 million in emergency funds is a good start for clearing debris, the initial ₱245.8 million estimate only scratches the surface of what is needed to rebuild Southern Mindanao’s educational landscape. As engineers finish their three-day validation sweeps across Sarangani Province throughout 2026, the administration must back its promises with sustained, long-term funding to guarantee that every student can return to a safe and resilient classroom.