PRESS RELEASE

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio 20 April 2026

27 textbook titles in 10 years is not just procurement failure—it’s a pedagogical retreat from books, Tinio tells DepEd amid literacy crisis

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio sounded the alarm over the continuing scarcity and non-use of textbooks in public schools, citing EDCOM 2 data showing that the Department of Education (DepEd) procured only 27 textbook titles over a decade—a situation he said reflects not only procurement bottlenecks but a deeper policy shift under K-12 that pushed textbooks aside in favor of modules and other learning materials.

“One of the standout data points in the EDCOM 2 report is that over a decade, DepEd procured only 27 textbook titles,” Tinio said in his interpellation at a House hearing. “EDCOM diagnoses it mainly as procurement bottlenecks, and DepEd now says they have ‘solved’ this and procured 105 titles in one school year. But the bigger concern is that this is not only a procurement issue—it is a pedagogical issue.”

Tinio said the reason textbook procurement collapsed for years is that DepEd “largely turned away from using textbooks” after K-12, shifting to modules and other learning materials—often delivered inconsistently and sometimes reduced to teacher-made PowerPoint presentations.

“Since 2012 up to now, DepEd has not really moved away from that approach. The main reason only 27 textbook titles were procured in ten years is because textbooks were no longer being used as the primary tool,” Tinio said. “If we’re facing a literacy crisis—basic and functional literacy—one basic problem is that students no longer have actual books to read.”

“Wala nang librong binabasa ang mga estudyante, kaya lumulubha ang problema sa literacy,” Tinio said. “Kailangang ibalik ang textbook bilang pangunahing batayan ng pagkatuto, hindi module na xerox o PowerPoint lang.”

Tinio contrasted the situation with private schools, which continued using textbooks even after K-12, while many public school learners have little more than photocopied modules.

“In private schools, textbooks remained central. In public schools, students often have no books to bring home, reread, and learn from,” Tinio said. “How can we build literacy without sustained exposure to books?”

During the hearing, Muntinlupa Rep. Jaime Fresnedi supported Tinio’s observations, reporting serious gaps in delivery based on updates from their Schools Division Office, including grade levels with no textbook delivery at all.

DepEd officials, for their part, presented a procurement and delivery timeline by batch, noting procurement for Grades 1, 4, and 7 in 2024; Grades 2, 3, 5, and 8 in 2025; and early procurement activity for Grades 6, 9, and 10 for 2026, with targets for delivery before or by the start of the school year. DepEd also said it recommends textbooks as the primary source of instruction, while acknowledging incomplete delivery in some grade levels and subjects. DepEd also reported that 31 textbook titles have been procured.

Tinio said the admissions underscore the need not only to speed up procurement, but to decisively reverse the long-standing de facto policy of sidelining textbooks in the public system.

“DepEd must answer the question: why were textbooks abandoned for years as the primary basis of teaching and learning, and what concrete policy steps will ensure every learner actually has books—on time, complete, and used in class,” Tinio said.

“Hindi sapat ang rekomendasyon kung wala namang librong dumarating,” Tinio said. “Dapat tiyakin ang kumpleto at maagap na delivery, at dapat gawing sentro ulit ng pagkatuto ang pagbabasa at paggamit ng aklat.” ###