Senator Sherwin Gatchalian — Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines–Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday (July 5) recommended a review of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) proposed budget for 2025.
The DepEd is now headed by former senator Sonny Angara, who was appointed last July 2 as DepEd chief soon after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. accepted the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary last June 19.
Duterte did not cite a categorical reason for her resignation.
“Si Sen. Sonny sa pagkakakilala ko sa kanya, he’s a finance man and I am very very sure ia-analyze nya yang budget for 2025. And I am very very sure it-tweak niya yan,” Gatchalian told reporters at an online press conference after he was asked whether Angara should review DepEd’s proposed budget for next year.
READ: Marcos OKs P6.352 trillion National Expenditure Program for 2025
(Sen. Sonny, as I know him, is a finance man, and I am very, very sure he will analyze the budget for 2025 and tweak it.)
“Ang kagandahan, dahil dati siyang senador [ay] madali niyang magagawa yan. I will recommend to him, but I know it will be automatic, na i-review para yung mga programa na gusto niyang palakasin ay maiayos,” Gatchalian added.
(The good thing is that he used to be a senator so [he] can easily do that. I will recommend to him, but I know it will be automatic, to review it so that the programs he wants to strengthen can be adjusted.)
Angara, whose second term as senator ends in 2025, will start running the DepEd on July 19, or about one month after Duterte left.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) earlier confirmed that Marcos had approved the proposed P6.352 trillion national expenditure program (NEP) for fiscal year 2025.
The lion’s share of the NEP will go to education, public works, health, interior and local government, and defense.
At the House of Representatives, Speaker Martin Romualdez vowed to give priority to the approval of the 2025 budget, setting a target of passing the proposed General Appropriations Act before Congress adjourns in September.
READ: 2025 budget approval a House priority, says Romualdez