Marcos can augment any item in budget – Escudero

MANILA, Philippines — Parrying criticisms over the cut in the budget of the Department of Education, Senate President Francis Escudero said DepEd has P36.134 billion in unobligated and unspent budget for its computerization program since 2022 that it can tap for additional funds if allowed by President Marcos.

“The President has the power to augment any item in the budget from savings or unspent items in the budget; this way he need not veto other line items in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) in order to provide the DepEd additional funds,” Escudero said in a Viber message to reporters.

Escudero’s statement came as Education Secretary Sonny Angara and teachers’ groups decried Congress’ decision to cut the DepEd’s 2025 budget by P12 billion.

The Senate President said Marcos can also restore the P10 billion that was slashed from the proposed funding for DepEd.

He cited figures from DepEd documents submitted to Congress during the budget hearing.

In 2022, some P13.068 billion was allocated to the DepEd for its computerization program, but some P10.03 billion remained unobligated.

Last year, DepEd only spent 50 percent of its P20.4-billion allocation under the 2023 GAA. Under the current budget, the agency has yet to spend P15.9 billion of the P18.08 billion earmarked for computerization.

“That is a total of P36.13 billion of unspent funds over the past three years, more than thrice the P10 billion that DepEd would like to be restored in its 2025 budget. So there are funds that the President can tap,” Escudero stressed.

The P10.034 billion in unobligated funds will revert to the National Treasury by the end of 2024, he said.

“Education has many champions in both chambers of Congress, and we are all committed to providing our public schools with the support they require. However, DepEd also needs to make sure that its funds are used properly. These allocations for education will not help anyone unless the DepEd properly spends them on the projects they are intended for,” Escudero said.

“From 2022 to 2024, 70 percent of the P51.5 billion allotted for the DepEd computerization program were unspent. So one can see why Congress has to be circumspect with regard to budget allocations,” the Senate President said.

“We look at not only the purpose of the fund, but the ability and capacity of the agency to use their fund. All these factors are taken into consideration,” he pointed out.

Misplaced priorities

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the Congress-approved P6.532-trillion national budget for 2025 is “crippled by misplaced priorities at the expense of the people’s health and children’s education.”

Hontiveros said she voted no to the ratification of the 2025 national budget, citing as one of her reasons the “zero state subsidy” in 2025 for PhilHealth.

“I understand that PhilHealth has been mismanaged, but eliminating the state subsidy entirely is not the solution. Instead of abandoning our responsibility to millions of indirect contributors – including poor families, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable individuals – we should focus on replacing the incompetent management,” she said. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla