LEARNING SESSION In this August 2023 photo, Grade 1 teacher Ivy Catungal engages her pupils in a learning session during the first day of classes at San Diego Elementary School in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. Several groups have lamented the reduction in the 2025 budget of the Department of Education, saying this will affect the agency’s programs. —Grig C. Montegranda
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos on Monday committed to restore the P10 billion that was slashed from the proposed funding of the Department of Education (DepEd), but clarified that it will not be through a line-item veto of the questioned provision in the P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).
In an interview, the President said he was hopeful that he and the lawmakers could still work out a tweak before he signs the GAB, adding that the proposal to cut P10 billion from the DepEd’s computerization program was “contrary to the policy direction” of his administration on education.
“We are still talking about it and we are trying to find a way and I think we’ll still be able to do something. We are working on that item because it is very necessary,” the President noted.
READ: Angara: Marcos to remedy huge DepEd budget cut
“The original request of … P12 billion is only sufficient to maintain what they [in DepEd] are already doing, when in fact, they have to do more. So we have to figure that out. We’re working on it to make sure that we will restore it,” Mr. Marcos added.
According to the President, the proposed reduction in the DepEd budget contradicted the government’s thrust of ensuring a continuing development of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the education sector.
Ongoing discussions
The President made the statement amid mounting public uproar over the final version of the 2025 GAB, which included massive cuts on the proposed funding of major agencies such as DepEd, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Health.
But a looming correction on the enrolled version of the budget should not come in the form of a line-item veto by the executive branch, the President said.
“I do not want to line-item veto anything because that just gets in the way,” he said without elaborating.
He pointed out that the discussion on a possible veto might be premature as the “process is still ongoing,” including a review of “worrisome” items.
“We’re still finalizing because what came out of the [bicameral conference committee] were just the total, so the details were still unclear. So we’re returning to those and all those elements that are worrisome are something we’re trying to make sure they are not put at a disadvantage,” he said.
“Let’s leave it to them (members of Congress). We’ll have that discussion with the bicam essentially and the leaders of both Houses,” the President added.
Necessary program
Lawmakers defended the P10-billion budget cut for the computerization program by noting DepEd’s supposed low utilization rate from last year under Vice President Sara Duterte. The Vice President resigned as education secretary in July.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara, who said he was elated by the pronouncement of the President, on Monday clarified that the utilization rate of its computerization program was much higher compared to what lawmakers had claimed in defending the budget cut.
He added that he was already instructed to coordinate with other members of the Cabinet for the possible restoration, specifically with Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
Angara also disclosed that Mr. Marcos himself called him up and was apparently frustrated over the bicam committee’s decision to reduce the DepEd’s budget for its computerization program.
“He called me the other day and said he could not sleep over the budget cut because… this was contrary to what he wanted to modernize our education,” Angara said.
Lack of transparency
Makabayan bloc lawmakers on Monday also called on the bicam panel to reconvene and restore funds for social services that were slashed from the different agencies.
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel claimed that the approved bicameral report was a “blatant replay of fiscal management and political patronage.”
“The public was kept in the dark about the specific amendments, their justifications, and their impacts on urgent social services,” they claimed.
The lawmakers lamented why budget cuts were usually seemingly made in the health and education sectors while discretionary funds, including confidential and intelligence funds, were retained or even increased.
However, Assistant Majority Leader Jefferson Khonghun said that the budget for the education sector should be taken in totality, along with funds allocated to other educational agencies and construction of related facilities by the Department of Public Works and Highways and local governments, pointing out it would show the sector remained a top priority.
He noted that if the budgets of DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the state universities and colleges were summed up, it would show that the education sector was still allocated the biggest chunk of the 2025 national budget. —with a report from Jeannette I. Andrade