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MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has promised to handle the numerous price range reduce for the Division of Schooling (DepEd) in 2025, Schooling Secretary Sonny Angara mentioned on Sunday.
Angara, a former senator, expressed disappointment over the bicameral convention committee’s choice to scale back DepEd’s price range for subsequent yr.
“In any case the guarantees and good phrases, sadly Congress reduce the President’s proposed price range for the [DepEd], significantly P10 billion for computerization,” Angara mentioned in an announcement.
READ: Solon says P10-billion DepEd’s price range reduce a name for accountability
Final week he disclosed that P10 billion was decreased from the DepEd’s computerization program, which he mentioned may have been used to purchase devices, together with computer systems for public faculty college students.
Within the last model of the P6.352-trillion Normal Appropriations Invoice (GAB), DepEd’s allotment was decreased by practically P12 billion to P737 billion from its unique proposal of P748.6 billion.
This was the identical destiny suffered by the Fee on Greater 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 Growth 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 search 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 document
Nonetheless, 1-Rider occasion listing 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 know-how (ICT) gear.
“As former Senate finance committee chair, Secretary Angara is aware of that the legislation is evident: unused funds have to be accounted for earlier than new allocations may be made. Now that he’s schooling secretary, he ought to deal with fixing DepEd’s inner mess. Congress can’t flip a blind eye to those points,” Gutierrez mentioned.
Different questions
The price range cuts on the bicameral committee conferences have raised different doubts and considerations.
Sen. JV Ejercito on Sunday mentioned he supported a scrutiny of the large reductions suffered by main businesses, saying that he was additionally clueless in regards to the knowledge behind the fund transfers within the last model of the 2025 GAB. He acknowledged, as an illustration, the skepticism prompted by the P213 billion improve within the proposed funding for the DPWH to a document P1.113 trillion.
“Admittedly, that [increase] raised quite a lot of questions, however that was not amongst my principal considerations,” Ejercito advised dzBB in an interview.
He additionally expressed his reservations in regards to the P26-billion allotment for the Division of Social Welfare and Growth’s Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, saying this solely perpetuates the dole-out mentality within the nation. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE
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