Schooling Sec. Sonny Angara
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vowed to “treatment” the massive lower on the price range of the Division of Schooling (DepEd) for 2025, Schooling Secretary Sonny Angara stated on Sunday.
The schooling chief, a former senator himself, couldn’t assist however once more categorical his dismay over the bicameral convention committee’s enormous discount of DepEd’s price range for subsequent 12 months.
“In spite of everything the guarantees and good phrases, sadly Congress lower the President’s proposed price range for the [DepEd], notably P10 billion for computerization,” Angara stated in a press release.
READ: Solon says P10-billion DepEd’s price range lower a name for accountability
Final week he disclosed that P10 billion was lowered from the DepEd’s computerization program, which he stated may have been used to purchase devices, together with computer systems for public college college students.
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Within the closing model of the P6.352-trillion Basic Appropriations Invoice (GAB), DepEd’s allotment was lowered by almost P12 billion to P737 billion from its authentic proposal of P748.6 billion.
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This was the identical destiny suffered by the Fee on Larger Schooling and the College of the Philippines system.
In the meantime, the Division of Nationwide Protection, Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Division of Overseas Affairs in addition to the Metropolitan Manila Improvement Authority got enormous will increase of their budgets.
Angara famous Marcos’ remarks in his State of the Nation Handle in July when he requested Congress to “assist bridge the digital divide.”
“In [the] previous years, Congress has elevated the President’s proposed price range for DepEd and schooling,” Angara, who beforehand served as chair of the Senate finance committee, identified.
He cited the obvious pledge from Marcos himself to seek out methods to revive the price range cuts of DepEd.
“President [Marcos] himself advised us he’ll treatment this,” Angara identified, however didn’t say how.
A technique is to debate it backdoor with the legislators to have the price range restored, much like the discussions on the Magna Carta for Seafarers whereby the Senate recalled the invoice a number of occasions from the Workplace of the President and underwent backdoor negotiations between the President and the senators.
One other treatment could be for the President to veto the actual line merchandise of DepEd for its computerization program.
Poor observe file
Nevertheless, 1-Rider celebration record Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez defined that the P10-billion discount was primarily as a result of DepEd’s very low utilization fee of its earlier funds for the procurement of data and communications expertise (ICT) tools.
“Congress can not hold throwing good cash after dangerous. This isn’t about depriving schooling, it’s about guaranteeing correct fund use and accountability,” Gutierrez stated, as he cited DepEd’s poor observe file in spending whereby the Fee on Audit itself had famous that the company disbursed solely P2.075 billion of its P11.63-billion price range final 12 months for ICT tools.
“As former Senate finance committee chair, Secretary Angara is aware of that the regulation is evident: unused funds have to be accounted for earlier than new allocations might be made. Now that he’s schooling secretary, he ought to concentrate on fixing DepEd’s inner mess. Congress can not flip a blind eye to those points,” Gutierrez stated.
Different questions
The price range cuts on the bicameral committee conferences have raised different doubts and considerations.
Sen. JV Ejercito on Sunday stated he supported a scrutiny of the large reductions suffered by main businesses, saying that he was additionally clueless concerning the knowledge behind the fund transfers within the closing model of the 2025 GAB. He acknowledged, for example, the skepticism prompted by the P213 billion improve within the proposed funding for the DPWH to a file P1.113 trillion.
“Admittedly, that [increase] raised lots of questions, however that was not amongst my major considerations,” Ejercito advised dzBB in an interview.
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He additionally expressed his reservations concerning the P26-billion allotment for the Division of Social Welfare and Improvement’s Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, saying this solely perpetuates the doleout mentality within the nation. —with a report from Jeannette I. Andrade