OnlyFans Star Maeurn Smiles Couldn't Afford College, Now She's Funding a Cebu School Herself To Honour Late Father

Maeurn Smiles wanted to teach, but her family could not afford college. Now she pays for school in Cebu herself, using what she earns on OnlyFans, where fans pay for photos and videos. She says she chose to build the school herself after learning a government-built school could not carry her late father's name.

She first planned to give the state her land. She says she learned that, under government rules, a state school could not carry that name. The finished school would add space in Cebu. The earthquake that struck the province on 30 September 2025 damaged nearly 10,000 classrooms, mostly in its schools, a congressional commission reported.

Who Controls a Public School in the Philippines

In the Philippines, Congress can name or rename a national public school by passing a law. A 2014 Department of Education (DepEd) order sets rules for naming and renaming public schools. In 2007, for example, Congress passed Republic Act 9454 just to rename one high school in Camarines Sur. Maeurn's published accounts do not say which rule officials applied to her. A 1954 law bars naming public schools after living people, except when it is a condition in a donation in favour of the government.

Maeurn grew up in a one-room shack in Cebu with no kitchen or bathroom, she told the Daily Mail in July 2025. In the same interview, she answered her critics: 'Some people will never respect how I earn my money.' Two reports say she left school at 17. She then gave English lessons to Chinese students, and TMZ reported in August that she paid ₱1.75 million (about $27,800/£21,000) for the land in 2024.

The Philippines' Shortage of Classrooms

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), the same body that counted the earthquake damage, disputes DepEd's shortage figure. DepEd estimated the shortage at 143,543 classrooms in June, down from 165,443 when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office. EDCOM 2 put the shortage at more than 166,000, using DepEd's own building records. As the chart below shows, two of this year's construction budgets cover fewer than one in ten missing classrooms.

DepEd says the public works agency and local councils have money for 12,911 classrooms in 2026. Education Secretary Sonny Angara wants companies to build more. He told business leaders in February that DepEd invites private firms 'not as donors, but as co-architects of national development.' Under DepEd's partnership plan, private partners would pay for more than 16,000 classrooms, lease them to the department, and later hand them over. Maeurn is funding her own build outside that plan.

Crowded Classrooms and What Maeurn Is Building

Karol Mark Yee, executive director of EDCOM 2, said in July that the most crowded places also see the most bullying. He called classroom crowding 'not only a learning issue, but a safety issue.' His commission wants DepEd to put the most crowded schools first in line.

Maeurn's first-phase plan included a library, three classrooms, and a cooking and science centre. October reports put the school at about 300 places, with no word on fees. No account gives an opening date. Her learning centre, which opened in 2025, is the only part running, by the latest accounts.