Schooling Sec. Sonny Angara
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vowed to “treatment” the large minimize on the finances of the Division of Schooling (DepEd) for 2025, Schooling Secretary Sonny Angara mentioned on Sunday.
The training chief, a former senator himself, couldn’t assist however once more specific his dismay over the bicameral convention committee’s enormous discount of DepEd’s finances for subsequent 12 months.
“In any case the guarantees and good phrases, sadly Congress minimize the President’s proposed finances for the [DepEd], significantly P10 billion for computerization,” Angara mentioned in a press release.
READ: Solon says P10-billion DepEd’s finances minimize a name for accountability
Final week he disclosed that P10 billion was lowered from the DepEd’s computerization program, which he mentioned might have been used to purchase devices, together with computer systems for public faculty college students.
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Within the ultimate model of the P6.352-trillion Common 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 Increased 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 International 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 finances for DepEd and training,” 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 finances cuts of DepEd.
“President [Marcos] himself instructed 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 finances restored, just like the discussions on the Magna Carta for Seafarers whereby the Senate recalled the invoice a number of instances from the Workplace of the President and underwent backdoor negotiations between the President and the senators.
One other treatment can be for the President to veto the actual line merchandise of DepEd for its computerization program.
Poor observe file
Nonetheless, 1-Rider get together listing Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez defined that the P10-billion discount was primarily resulting from 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 unhealthy. This isn’t about depriving training, it’s about guaranteeing correct fund use and accountability,” Gutierrez mentioned, 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 finances final 12 months for ICT tools.
“As former Senate finance committee chair, Secretary Angara is aware of that the regulation is obvious: unused funds have to be accounted for earlier than new allocations could be made. Now that he’s training secretary, he ought to deal with fixing DepEd’s inner mess. Congress can not flip a blind eye to those points,” Gutierrez mentioned.
Different questions
The finances cuts on the bicameral committee conferences have raised different doubts and issues.
Sen. JV Ejercito on Sunday mentioned he supported a scrutiny of the huge reductions suffered by main businesses, saying that he was additionally clueless concerning the knowledge behind the fund transfers within the ultimate model of the 2025 GAB. He acknowledged, as an illustration, the skepticism prompted by the P213 billion enhance within the proposed funding for the DPWH to a file P1.113 trillion.
“Admittedly, that [increase] raised a variety of questions, however that was not amongst my principal issues,” Ejercito instructed 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
