What we know so far: DepEd's P12 billion 'budget cut'
MANILA, Philippines — Education Secretary Sonny Angara accused both chambers of Congress last week of sabotaging the Department of Education's plans to get more computers into public schools after lawmakers stripped P12 billion from his department's proposed 2025 budget.
The bulk of the reduction approved by the bicam – P10 billion – was supposed to go to a computerization program meant to address classrooms' digital needs across the country, Angara said in social media posts and in a chance interview last week.
Both Angara and his former colleague, Senate finance panel chairperson Sen. Grace Poe, have expressed contrasting opinions over whether the decrease in funds for a program riddled with utilization issues is justified.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stepped into the fray today and promised to restore the funds. But with Congress having finalized the bicam report for the 2025 budget, the president's pledge came without specifics on how exactly the budget would be recovered.
Two teacher groups have expressed frustration over what they see as an attempt to deprioritize education.
What exactly happened?
DepEd's proposed P12 billion budget for computers
DepEd's budget in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (the budget submitted by the Department of Budget and Management to Congress for review) allocated P12.36 billion for its computerization program.
These funds, at the most basic level, are intended to procure more laptops for teachers and provide smart televisions to public schools. But the overall computerization program aims to "upgrade and strengthen the ICT competencies of learners, teachers, school leaders and non-teaching personnel."
In total, DepEd had asked for a budget of at least P793.18 billion next year, based on the NEP. This is at least P75.52 billion more than the budget the department received this year (P717.66 billion).
This was the figure that Angara and his team had defended in Congress during the budget deliberations of the House and the Senate. The actual budget proposal was prepared under then-DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, who resigned in July, just less than a month before the start of the budget hearings.
By the time select lawmakers part of the bicam started deliberating on the proposed 2025 budget, DepEd's funding had already gone down to P748.65 billion, according to the General Appropriations Bill approved by Congress. That's at least P40 billion lower than what DepEd originally proposed.
The final bicam report trimmed DepEd's budget even more — by exactly P11,569,739,000 or P11.57 billion. The agency's total budget now stands at P737.08 billion.
That is the P12 billion "budget cut" that Angara is pushing back against.
Higher budget year-on-year
But, as pointed out by Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate finance panel, there is no actual cut when DepEd's proposed 2025 budget is compared against its current outlay for 2024.
If the final bicam report is signed into law, DepEd's 2025 budget of P737 billion will be higher than its current 2024 budget by P19 billion.
In justifying the slash, Poe said: "May pondo pa rin para sa computers, at tumaas pa rin naman ang overall 2025 budget ng DepEd ng P19 billion mula sa P717 billion in 2024 to P737 billion in 2025."
(There is still funding for computers, and the overall 2025 budget of the DepEd has increased by P19 billion, from P717 billion in 2024 to P737 billion in 2025.)
Reversing a trend
But Angara was not just expressing disappointment over the P12 billion budget slash. He had also lamented the bicam's decision to cut back the agency's budget instead of increasing it as in previous years. The bicam "reversed a trend," the DepEd chief said.
"Sad to learn that both Houses of Congress have decided to decrease by P12billion the budget the President proposed for DepEd for 2025. This reverses a trend in recent years where Congress adds even more to the education budget (save for one year during pandemic)," Angara said in a post on X platform on December 12.
Angara also explained that although the budget for next year is slated to be higher, the increase in allocation is still "not enough" to hire new teachers and personnel.
When Congress's bicameral committee signed its report on December 11, the reductions went beyond just technology. Beyond the P10 billion cut from the computerization program, lawmakers also stripped P1.5 billion from personnel services – money meant for hiring new teachers, according to Angara.
"Yung sinasabi na tumaas pa din ang agency budget vs last year - kulang Pa para sa personnel services Lang yung pag hire ng bagong teachers and personnel (na cinut din ng 1.5B) para ma-meet ang desired ratios and personnel goals at para sa SSL increases," Angara said in an Instagram post on December 15.
(The claim that the agency's budget has increased compared to last year is still insufficient just for personnel services alone, such as hiring new teachers and personnel (which was also cut by P1.5 billion) to meet the desired ratios and personnel goals, as well as for SSL [Salary Standardization Law] increases.)
DepEd needs an estimate 56,050 new teachers to address the current shortage in public schools. While the agency planned to hire at least 20,000 teachers in 2025 and requested P5.50 billion for these positions, they needed an additional P15.4 billion on top of that amount to fill the total teacher shortage.
Flawed computerization program
Lawmakers, however, are standing by the decision to gut DepEd's computerization program due to audit findings that point to its inefficiency.
Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (1-Rider Party-list) delivered a sharp rebuke to Angara's objections in a statement on Sunday. "Secretary Angara may argue that education funding is sacrosanct, but Congress cannot keep throwing good money after bad," he said.
The lawmaker cited Commission on Audit findings that show DepEd spent only P2.075 billion of its P11.36 billion ICT equipment budget in 2023. The department's own ICT Director Ferdinand Pitagan admitted in September that 12,022 laptops for teachers and 7,558 for non-teaching personnel remained undelivered by year's end.
These specific COA findings covered DepEd under the leadership of Duterte, who was secretary of DepEd from the start of her term in July 2022 to July 2024.
RELATED: 1.5 million DepEd laptops, items stuck in warehouses since 2020 – Angara
"While it's unfortunate that Secretary Sonny inherited the problems and scandals left behind by his predecessor, Vice President Sara Duterte, Secretary Angara knows that the law is clear: unused funds must be accounted for before new allocations can be made," Gutierrez said.
Poe had a similar response to Angara, zeroing in on the funds for the computerization program that DepEd has yet to use up. She said: "We also took note of COA's finding that only 50% of the 2023 budget for the Computerization Program was utilized. We must see to it that all of the program's systemic problems such as procurement delays be addressed first before allocating the corresponding budget increase."
"Lastly, we prioritized human resources... This is why we more than doubled the budget for teaching supplies allowance from P4.825 billion in 2024 to P9.948 billion next year," Poe added.
The Senate finance panel chair explained that priorities "had to be weighed," resulting in funding cuts for other programs.
Underinvestment in education
For decades, the Philippines has struggled to invest enough in education.
When the first Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) report came out in the 1990s, the country was spending only 2.7% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on education.
While this improved to 3.6% between 2014-2022, peaking at 3.9% in 2017, it's still not enough by regional and international standards. Vietnam and Malaysia, for instance, spent 4.2% of their GDP on education, as of 2018. Singapore spends 25.8%.
According to EDCOM 2, the Philippines' total budget for education also falls far below the 20% benchmark for middle-income countries.
Data on how much the government spends per student also places the Philippines below several of its Asian neighbors.
According to EDCOM 2's Year One report, the Philippines spends just $813 per primary school student and $777 per secondary school student. This is lower than what Indonesia ($1,348-$1068) and Thailand ($3,676-$2,838) spends per student, with Singapore emerging as the top spender ($16,704-$20,632).
The Philippines' dismal scores in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were partly attributed to the country's low investment in education.
As noted by EDCOM 2: "While higher levels of education spending do not immediately translate to better learning outcomes, an analysis of the 2018 results indicates that 'there is a positive relationship between investment in education and average performance.'"
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