VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte yesterday defended the P150 million in confidential funds that the Department of Education (DepEd) has requested for next year and stressed that “education is intertwined with national security.”
Malacañang has asked Congress to approve the P150 million DepEd confidential funds under the proposed P5.767 trillion national budget for 2024.
“Education is intertwined with national security. Napakahalaga na (it is very important) that we mold children who are patriotic, children who will love our country and who will defend our country,” Duterte told reporters in a chance interview at the Tarlac National High School (TNHS) in Tarlac province where the DepEd launched this year’s Brigada Eskwela or the National Schools Maintenance Week.
Duterte declined to provide a breakdown on how the DepEd will use the amount but insisted there is basis for its request.
“There is a joint memorandum circular with regard to confidential funds. So nakalatag doon paano siya gagamitin, nakalatag din doon paano siya ili-liquidate (Its [confidential fund] usage is provided there and how it should be liquidated). And by its nature, it’s confidential funds so we cannot discuss paano siya ginagamit sa operations (how it is being used for operations),” Duterte said.
The Vice President said she will leave it to Congress to decide to approve or not DepEd’s request.
“With regard to the confidential funds, we leave it to the decision of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Iniiwan na namin sa kanila ang desisyon (We leave the decision to them),” she said.
DepEd spokesperson Undersecretary Michael Poa has earlier said the P150 million will be used to gather information on illegal recruitment of students in schools across the country.
Aside from the P150 million in confidential funds for DepEd, Duterte has also requested P500 million in confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
During last year’s budget deliberations, Duterte said DepEd’s confidential funds would be utilized to address problems such as sexual abuse, student involvement in illegal drugs, and student recruitment of insurgent and terrorist groups.
“The threats to the learning environment, safety, and security of DepEd personnel are interlocking with the mandate of support to the national security of civilian offices,” Duterte told lawmakers in 2022.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said the amount can be used instead to fill glaring shortages in public school supplies and equipment.
ACT said it can be used to purchase 150,000 armchairs, three million textbooks, or 4,286 laptops for teachers at P35,000 apiece.
Militant lawmaker Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT) slammed the DepEd for asking Congress for P150 million in confidential funds, saying the funding could be used to “monitor and put under surveillance students and teachers they suspect to be involved in illegal recruitment.”
“Is the DepEd now a police or military agency that it is conducting surveillance operations on students and teachers? Dapat pala siguro Department of Surveillance na ang tawag dito at ‘di Department of Education (Maybe it should be called Department of Surveillance and not Department of Education,” Castro said.
Castro said the Makabayan bloc will move for the confidential funds to be taken out of the DepEd’s budget and other civilian agencies and be realigned to the early childcare development program “because as of now, it is just P221 million and is definitely not enough for the program.”
Castro said DepEd’s statement “is also proof that indeed it is profiling, surveilling and harassing members and officers of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).”
“It has not even scratched the surface in solving the learning crisis as well as providing adequate classrooms and a substantial salary increase for teachers as well as hire more teachers and now it is conducting surveillance?” she said. — With Wendell Vigilia
