MANILA, Philippines ? Education Secretary Armin Luistro has ordered all Department of Education offices to submit reports justifying all planned trainings, seminars and other capacity-building activities.

In a statement released Friday, Luistro signed DepEd Order No. 100, series of 2010 asking that these reports be submitted to the Executive Team in the Office of the Undersecretary for Programs and Projects headed by Yolanda Quijano.

?Effective immediately, we should seriously watch our department?s spending. We should only allocate funds for worthwhile endeavors as we are also currently reviewing the budget to rationalize expenses,? Luistro said in the same statement.

The order covers all training activities and similar projects organized by the DepEd Central and Field Offices and those co-organized with non-DepEd institutions. It also includes activities for both teaching and non-teaching staff scheduled to be implemented between September 15 and December 2010.

DepEd Order No. 100 also covers activities organized by non-DepEd institutions wherein attendance is on official business and payment of registration fees and transportation allowances that are charged to government funds.

All proposals are required to contain justifications and supporting documents, objectives and outputs, number of target participants and level of competencies for the targets, and expense details of the project or program, the DepEd said.

?The review will somehow reduce training expenditures and prioritize important ones in terms of needs and effectiveness in addressing the Key Policies, Thrusts and Directions enumerated in DepEd Order 25 series of 2010 and in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Education for All (EFA) targets within five years,? Luistro added.

Once all proposals have been submitted, the Executive Team would then determine the need and effectiveness of each activity.

The Executive Team will also establish its support or contribution towards the attainment of goals and objectives of Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), and Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF).

DepEd said that Luistro?s instruction was in response to the orders of President Benigno Aquino III that the government budget be used prudently.

?The current administration is taking a positive stance. As President Aquino puts education a top priority in the next six years, DepEd is set to scale up basic education performance to ensure that all school-aged children are in school by 2015. We are doing our mighty best to deliver what is expected of us given the perennial lack of resources that continues to hobble the Department,? assured Luistro.