MAJORITY of senators want the proposed P150 million confidential funds budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2023 realigned to the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairperson of the Senate finance committee, said yesterday.
In an interview with dzBB, Angara said this was the sentiment raised by most of his colleagues during the caucus they held last week as the Senate started plenary deliberations on the proposed P5.268 billion national budget of the Marcos administration for 2023.
Both the DepEd and the OVP are under the leadership of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“Sa usapin ng DepEd, eh parang mas komportable ‘yung ibang mambabatas na mas ilagay doon sa Office of the Vice President dahil ‘yun talaga nakatutok sa buong burukrasya at buong bansa ay pinupuntahan. Bahagi rin po siya ng tinatawag na security establishment dahil siya po ay Bise Presidente. Kaya mas komportable na merong ganong pondo sa Office of the Vice President kaysa sa Department of Education (My colleagues are more comfortable in realigning the confidential funds of the DepEd to the Office of the Vice President because it is focused on the whole bureaucracy, and it travels around the country. It is also part of what we call the security establishment because she is the Vice President. That’s why they are more comfortable that the Office of the Vice President will have that much [confidential] funds rather than the DepEd),” Angara said.
He added that senators also want the confidential funds transferred to the OVP because they were concerned over the proposed budget’s fate if there is a sudden change of leadership in the DepEd.
“Realign, oo, ‘yun ‘yung mga posibilidad po diyan, o ilipat po sa OVP dahil pareho naman ‘yung tanggapan ay nasa ilalim ni Vice President Duterte. ‘Yung punto nga nila, parang, paano kung mag-iba ang liderato sa DepEd? Maiiwan ‘yung pondo doon. Alam naman natin, kapag si Vice President, kailangan niya talaga ‘yan. Bakit hindi na lang ilagay doon sa kanyang tanggapn? Yun ang tugon ng ibang senador (The option is either realigning or transferring the funds to the OVP because both agencies [DepEd and OVP] are under Vice President Duterte. Their concern is: What if there is a change of leadership in the DepEd? So, the [confidential] funds will be left there. We all know that the Vice President needs them more. So, why don’t we just put it in her office? That’s the opinion of some senators),” Angara said.
The two-man minority bloc in the Senate — Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III and Sen. Risa Hontiveros — have questioned the allocation of confidential funds to civilian agencies like the OVP and DepEd when they are not involved in intelligence gathering.
Among others, the DepEd has said that it needs the confidential funds for its campaign against the recruitment of students to become members of the communist movement, and for their fight against illegal drugs.
During last week’s floor deliberations on the proposed P5.268-trillion national budget, Pimentel said he will move for the deletion of the OVP’s P500 million confidential funds and the DepEd’s P150 million because both agencies do not need the funding.
He said it would be better to leave intelligence gathering to “expert” agencies such as the Department of National Defense and the Philippine National Police.
Angara said that aside from the concerns on the sudden change in DepEd leadership, it would supposedly look back to delete the confidential funds since Duterte, as the second highest elected official of the land, needs all the support she can get to perform her duties well.
“So parang hindi maganda na sa kauna-unahang oportunidad ay babawasan ng budget. Yun ang personal na pasya ko lang po. Pero puwedeng mag-iba po yan dahil alam niyo naman ang Senado ay isang collegial body… Ibig sabihin, hindi iisang tao ang nagde-desisyon (It will not look good that in the first very opportunity, we will slash the budget. That is my personal view. But the decision [whether to decrease, increase, or retain] the budget on confidential funds is up to the Senate which is a collegial body),” he said.
Angara said the DepEd should “itemize” the funds it needs to stop the recruitment of students by terrorist organizations, among others, so these can be included in their regular budget.
“Dahil ‘yun ang best budgeting practice. Peron minsan nga, merong ayaw isiwalat dahil pag nalaman na may ganoon, maka-counter sila ng mga kalabang ng ating pamahalaan. So, yun ang isa sa mga rason…P ero mas maganda talaga kung maa-itemize natin yung mga bagay-bagay (Because [itemizing] is the best budget practice. But there are times that they do not want to disclose [their move] because it can be countered by the enemies of the state. So, that is one of the reasons… But it is best if they can itemize their different needs),” he added.
Angara, who has been the chairman of the Senate finance panel for the past four years, said the allocation of confidential funds for the DepEd was also done during the latter years of the 90s or early 2000.
“Parang fourth year ko na ngayon, wala akong na-encounter na ganyan. Ngunit tinanong ko ang budget office dahil magmula pa yan noong 1980s or 1990s, meron daw po nung late 90s at early 2000s sa parehong ahensiya (It is my fourth year already [as finance committee chairman] and I have not encountered such an allocation in the DepEd’s budget. But upon asking the budget office, there are [confidential funds in the DepEd and OVP] in the late 90s and early 2000s),” he added.
‘AYUDA’
Angara said the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget has set aside funding for financial assistance but not all Filipinos will get them just as what was done during the height of the pandemic.
He said those who will receive the P3 to P5 billion earmarked for assistance include the “targeted” sectors of education, agriculture and fishery, labor, transportation, migrant workers, the 4Ps beneficiaries, and to combat inflation, and fund other programs of the Marcos administration.
“Pero nariyan pa rin ‘yung ayuda, pero mas maliit na po. Dati parang umabot ng P300 billion yata yun. Ngayon nasa P110 billion na po. At yun ay limitado na po sa 4Ps — yung pinakamahihirap na mga pamilya talaga
(But the financial assistance will still be there but this time a lot smaller. We reached around P300 billion before, but now it is only around P110 billion and that will be limited to the 4Ps beneficiaries who are the poorest of the poor),” Angara said.
He said allotment for the “Libreng Sakay,” or free rides, offered by the government and fuel vouchers for public utility vehicle drivers are also included in the proposed national budget for 2023.
“Nasa budget po ‘yung Libreng Sakay. Dinagdagan din po nina Sen. Grace Poe, so talagang nakatutok sila diyan sa ayuda sa mga tsuper, sa mga operator ng PUV, tricycle, lahat po yan may tulong. Fuel vouchers at yung libreng sakay yan ang ilang programs na talagang natutulungan po ay ang pangkaraniwang mamamayan (Free rides are included in the budget. Sen. Grace Poe [public services committee chairperson] made sure that there be will additional funds for drivers and operators of PUVs, fuel vouchers which are among the few programs that help the common citizens),” he added.
