Lumad rights advocates strongly condemned the Department of Education (DepEd) for its anomalies in the construction of schools in Talaingod, Davao del Norte. A Commission on Audit (COA) report revealed that two school buildings worth about ₱36 million remain unfinished.

COA Region 11 flagged the DepEd Davao del Norte Division over these irregularities in November 2025. The audit led to the suspension of three officials while the anomaly is being investigated. The officials are Schools Division Superintendent Reynaldo Mellondio, Assistant Superintendent Janette Veloso, and Division Engineer Elillou Jumawan.

A joint statement of the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network and Sabokahan Unity of Lumad Women described the anomaly as “shameless and condemnable.” The absence of schools deprives Lumad youth of education, especially after the state and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) shut down the Salugpongan schools in Talaingod. The Duterte regime closed nearly 55 Lumad schools after intensely militarizing the area and red-tagging teachers and students.

“Built in the late 2000s with the support of NGOs under the DepEd’s Alternative Learning System, the Salugpongan schools provided free and meaningful education through volunteer teachers,” the groups said. “Lumad schools are free and community-based.” They said the use of force to shut them down was a grave crime. “But taking the budget… and then not implementing it… is even more ruthless, corrupt, and must be condemned!”

The anomalous Talaingod school construction extends the broader failures of the Last Miles Schools program, meant to build schools in far-flung communities. Under former secretary Sara Duterte, only 22 out of 98 target schools were completed between 2019 and 2023. These schools were allotted ₱211.2 million.