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UPDATED MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education’s (DepEd) P710-billion 2023 budget is now up for Senate plenary debates.
The development comes after the Senate committee on finance approved DepEd’s budget on Thursday.
“With no more questions for today, the budget of DepEd [and attached agencies] are all deemed submitted to the plenary, subject to our discussions and the submission of documents requested by the senators,” said Senator Pia Cayetano who chairs the subcommittee of the Senate panel on finance.
Vice President Sara Duterte, who concurrently sits as DepEd secretary, physically attended the panel hearing.
Duterte, along with other officials of DepEd and its attached agencies, presented their budget proposals and plans and responded to senators’ queries during the almost four-hour panel deliberations.
Among the issues tackled were the classroom backlogs, confidential funds, and student literacy.
The DepEd committed to address all concerns for the betterment of students’ welfare.