Education Sec. Sonny Angara
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vowed to “remedy” the huge cut on the budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) for 2025, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said on Sunday.
The education chief, a former senator himself, could not help but again express his dismay over the bicameral conference committee’s huge reduction of DepEd’s budget for next year.
“After all the promises and nice words, sadly Congress cut the President’s proposed budget for the [DepEd], particularly P10 billion for computerization,” Angara said in a statement.
READ: Solon says P10-billion DepEd’s budget cut a call for accountability
Last week he disclosed that P10 billion was reduced from the DepEd’s computerization program, which he said could have been used to buy gadgets, including computers for public school students.
In the final version of the P6.352-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB), DepEd’s allotment was reduced by nearly P12 billion to P737 billion from its original proposal of P748.6 billion.
This was the same fate suffered by the Commission on Higher Education and the University of the Philippines system.
Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Department of Foreign Affairs as well as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority were given huge increases in their budgets.
Angara noted Marcos’ remarks in his State of the Nation Address in July when he asked Congress to “help bridge the digital divide.”
“In [the] past years, Congress has increased the President’s proposed budget for DepEd and education,” Angara, who previously served as chair of the Senate finance committee, pointed out.
He cited the apparent pledge from Marcos himself to find ways to restore the budget cuts of DepEd.
“President [Marcos] himself told us he will remedy this,” Angara pointed out, but did not say how.
One way is to discuss it backdoor with the legislators to have the budget restored, similar to the discussions on the Magna Carta for Seafarers wherein the Senate recalled the bill several times from the Office of the President and underwent backdoor negotiations between the President and the senators.
Another remedy would be for the President to veto the particular line item of DepEd for its computerization program.
Poor track record
However, 1-Rider party list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez explained that the P10-billion reduction was primarily due to DepEd’s very low utilization rate of its previous funds for the procurement of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment.
“Congress cannot keep throwing good money after bad. This is not about depriving education, it’s about ensuring proper fund use and accountability,” Gutierrez said, as he cited DepEd’s poor track record in spending wherein the Commission on Audit itself had noted that the agency disbursed only P2.075 billion of its P11.63-billion budget last year for ICT equipment.
“As former Senate finance committee chair, Secretary Angara knows that the law is clear: unused funds must be accounted for before new allocations can be made. Now that he’s education secretary, he should focus on fixing DepEd’s internal mess. Congress cannot turn a blind eye to these issues,” Gutierrez said.
Other questions
The budget cuts at the bicameral committee meetings have raised other doubts and concerns.
Sen. JV Ejercito on Sunday said he supported a scrutiny of the massive reductions suffered by major agencies, saying that he was also clueless about the wisdom behind the fund transfers in the final version of the 2025 GAB. He acknowledged, for instance, the skepticism prompted by the P213 billion increase in the proposed funding for the DPWH to a record P1.113 trillion.
“Admittedly, that [increase] raised a lot of questions, but that was not among my main concerns,” Ejercito told dzBB in an interview.
He also expressed his reservations about the P26-billion allotment for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, saying this only perpetuates the doleout mentality in the country. —with a report from Jeannette I. Andrade