MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday, December 16, that the P10-billion budget cut for the Department of Education (DepEd) contradicts his administration's policies and vowed to find a way to restore the funding.
The president, however, fell short of saying that he would veto the item.
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“On the subject of the DepEd, we are still looking into it. I think it is contrary to all our policy direction when we talk about the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) development of our educational sector and then the continuing development,” Marcos said in an ambush interview in Malacañan Palace.
The recently concluded bicameral conference committee slashed the DepEd’s computerization budget from P12 billion to around P2 billion.
Current DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara has called out this decision from Congress, saying that Marcos has already vowed to remedy this budget cut.
“We're working on it to make sure that we will restore it. I do not want to line item veto anything because that just gets in the way. So we're still talking about it and trying to find a way,” Marcos said.
Marcos said that the executive was still reviewing the bicam-approved budget, but remained optimistic that the DepEd budget can be restored.
Pressed for how lawmakers could fix the education budget if he was not going to veto the item, Marcos said it was best to “leave it to them.”
“I don't want to have that discussion here. We'll have that discussion with the bicam essentially and the leaders of both houses,” Marcos said.
The House panel cited alleged underutilization and scandals during the term of the previous Education secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte.
Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (1-Rider Party-list) said that the decision was based on the DepEd’s low disbursement rate for their information communications technology equipment, using only P2.075 billion of a P11.36 billion
“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,” Gutierrez said.