House justifies slashing of DepEd’s 2025 budget

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has stood firm on slashing P10 billion from the Department of Education (DepEd)’s 2025 computerization budget, calling out the agency’s alleged glaring inefficiency and fund mismanagement.

1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez dismissed the objections of DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara, who earlier criticized lawmakers for the budget cut.

“Secretary Angara may argue that education funding is sacrosanct, but Congress cannot keep throwing good money after bad. This is not about depriving education; it’s about ensuring proper fund use and accountability,” Gutierrez stressed.

“While it’s unfortunate that Sec. Sonny inherited the problems and scandals left behind by his predecessor, Vice President Sara Duterte, Sec. Angara knows that the law is clear: unused funds must be accounted for before new allocations can be made,” he said. “Now that he’s education secretary, he should focus on fixing DepEd’s internal mess instead of crying foul about budget decisions.”

Citing DepEd’s poor track record, the lawmaker pointed to the Commission on Audit (COA) report, which revealed DepEd’s disbursement of only P2.075 billion of its P11.36-billion 2023 budget for ICT equipment.

“This isn’t just inefficiency – it’s negligence,” Gutierrez pointed out, adding that DepEd’s failure to deliver on its mandate justifies Congress’ decision to reallocate funds.

At a budget hearing last September, DepEd ICT director Ferdinand Pitagan admitted that 12,022 laptops for teachers and 7,558 for non-teaching personnel remained undelivered by end-2023.

“And that’s just for 2023, we’re not even talking about the computerization budget for 2024 and the year is almost over,” Gutierrez said.

Critics scored the department for the laptop procurement mess under Duterte’s term as DepEd chief, during which overpriced units drained resources without meeting schools’ needs.

“The excuses are wearing thin,” Gutierrez said. “We know it’s extremely difficult for Secretary Angara to defend DepEd’s lack of action when the Philippines is already at rock bottom in global education rankings. A teacher-to-computer ratio of 30:1 is unacceptable and we have VP Sara to blame for it.”

The Philippines ranked 76th among 81 countries in reading and mathematics in the 2023 PISA assessment. Analysts argue that DepEd’s delays in delivering ICT resources have only deepened the crisis.

With the education sector in disarray, lawmakers insist the cut is not an attack on education but a wakeup call for DepEd to prioritize effective governance over bloated budgets.

Supreme Court help eyed

With Malacañang vowing to enact the national budget program for 2025 before Christmas, Sen. Pia Cayetano said she intends to question before the Supreme Court the move of the bicameral conference committee of Congress to give zero subsidy to the state insurer Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

In a dwIZ interview yesterday, Cayetano said she as a lawyer would study the proposed P6.352-trillion national budget as she questioned budget cuts on key agencies like the Departments of Health and Education.

She said the bicam move to remove government subsidy for PhilHealth violates the Sin Tax Law, which mandates that a portion of tax collected from vices should be used for universal health care.

“We passed a Sin Tax Law that requires that 80 percent of revenues from tobacco products and sugar-sweetened beverage must be allocated to PhilHealth. For 2025, that amount of sin tax collection is P69 billion. Under the bicam, zero. By law, it is required to deliver that fund,” Cayetano said.

“That is a violation of the Sin Tax Law. I am seriously considering questioning this in the Supreme Court because that is a law that we passed,” she added.

While she understands the Senate leadership’s position that PhilHealth does not deserve government subsidy because of its unused P600 billion in reserve funds, Cayetano said the government is mandated to give support for PhilHealth’s payments of premiums for indirect contributors.

“Clearly, PhilHealth is not managing their funds properly. I’d like to believe there are improvements. But are we improving fast enough?” Cayetano said.

“I am just posing those questions because it has reached the point government may not fund them anymore, even though by law, they are required to be funded. We are now at a stalemate,” she added.

Cayetano, who is seeking reelection, said she remains an ally of the administration even though she is questioning the budget cuts in the 2025 budget.

“I am an ally of the administration. I will not say the administration is not giving education and health a priority. What I am saying is that I respect the process, I respect that there may be differences in opinions in terms of setting priorities,” Cayetano said.

She expressed disappointment that the bicam had to cut the budgets of the DOH by P25.80 billion, DepEd (P11.57 billion), Commission on Higher Education (P26.91 billion) and the University of the Philippines (P641.38 million).

“This is outside the administration. It’s the bicam process only that I am making an observation on,” she added.

Bloated

Former senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, vowed to scrutinize the bloated budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for 2025.

Lacson said the DPWH budget increased from P900 billion in the 2025 National Expenditure Program, to P1.113 trillion in the reconciled budget after Congress convened as a bicameral conference committee.

Lacson said he would look into the DPWH budget if he gets elected again as senator in next year’s midterm elections.

“God willing and with an enlightened electorate, in the exercise of congressional oversight, among others, I pledge to scrutinize each and every additional item that caused the spike in the agency’s budget, among other items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act,” Lacson said.

He said the DPWH is known for its poor implementation of projects and utilization of funds which are secretly inserted by lawmakers.

“Assuming it comes from congressional insertions, let me reiterate my usual and oft-repeated concern about the attendant poor or lack of proper planning and vetting by the DPWH, which has the proper authority to implement these ‘whimsically inserted’ budgeted items that could very well end up in either unutilization of funds or poor implementation that will not be responsive to the needs and priorities of the country and its communities,” Lacson said.

He questioned the bicam’s move to give a whopping increase to DPWH while drastically reducing the budget of the DepEd.

Lacson said this “blatantly violates Art XIV Sec 5(5) of the Constitution, which declares that ‘The State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.’”

He urged President Marcos to use his veto power and restore DepEd’s budget and reverse DPWH’s bloated funding.

“Only the President can save the Constitution from becoming wastebasket-bound by exercising his line item veto power once the Enrolled Bill lands on his desk,” he said.

Senate finance committee chair Grace Poe earlier defended the P288.7-billion increase in the DPWH’s budget, saying there are foreign-assisted projects next year that need government funding.

While senators were critical of the DPWH’s billions of pesos worth of poorly implemented flood control projects, Poe said there are audit guidelines for monitoring DPWH projects to prevent corruption and make possible the blacklisting of unscrupulous contractors. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab