SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday said President Marcos Jr. can tap the Department of Education’s (DepEd) more than P36 billion in unused funds for its P10 billion computerization program.
“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 DepEd additional funds,” Escudero said in a statement.
“There are several unspent items in the (DepEd) budget that can be used, particularly from the funds allocated for DepEd’s computerization program from 2022 to 2024,“ he added.
The President has said the budget department is “working” to restore the P10 billion cut made by lawmakers in the 2025 budget of the DepEd.
The bicameral conference committee on the 2025 national budget reduced the P748.65 billion budget request for the DepEd to P737 billion, or by almost P12 billion, in the consolidated version of the P6.362 trillion GAB for next year. Of the amount, P10 billion was cut from the agency’s computerization program.
Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara slammed the budget cut, saying this would widen the digital divide among students.
But Escudero said the DepEd has extra funds which it can use to cover for the slashed amount.
Citing figures from documents submitted by the DepEd during the committee budget hearings, the Senate chief said the education department has not been fulling utilizing allocations for its computerization program in the past years.
In 2022, Escudero said, DepEd allocated P13.068 billion for its computerization program but did not spend P10.034 billion of the amount. The unobligated fund, he said, will revert to the National Treasury by the end of the year.
In 2023, DepEd only spent 50 percent of its P20.4 billion allocation for the same program.
This year, the agency has yet to spend P15.9 billion out of its P18.08 billion earmarked for computerization.
“That is a total of P36.13 billion in 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 may pondo naman na puwedeng i-tap si Presidente (So, there are funds that the President can tap),” Escudero said
He added: “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.”
Escudero said that while the education sector has “many champions on both chambers of Congress” who are committed to providing public schools with all the support that they need, DepEd should do its part by making sure that it properly and efficiently spends its budget allocations.
“These allocations for education will not help anyone unless the DepEd properly spends them on the projects they are intended for,” he said.
He also said: “In this situation, ang pagiging takaw-mata can result in a few hundred pesos wasted; in government, we are talking about billions of pesos.”
OPTIONS
Former Senate President Franklin Drilon yesterday said the President can either exercise his power to line-item veto items in the budget bill or ask Congress to reconvene the bicameral conference committee to adjust the budget.
In an interview with ANC’s Headstart, Drilon said the President and Congress can still correct the imbalance in next year’s spending bill as he noted the bigger budget given for infrastructure projects.
“The Constitution provides that the education sector shall have the biggest priority in the allocation of public funds in the budget. And I repeat, it is the education sector, not DepEd alone,” Drilon said.
“The President has the power to exercise line-item veto. He can veto certain sections of the General Appropriations Bill in order that the constitutional mandate can be complied with,” he said.
He said there were instances in the past when the President returned the budget bill “and asked the bicam to reconvene” and revise the approved budget draft.
“This is not technically correct, but it is being done in the past,” he said.
Former senator Panfilo Lacson said that while “we respect” the President’s sole authority whether to exercise his veto power or not, Section 25 of Article XIV of the Constitution is unequivocal in giving “education the highest budgetary priority.”
“With that being said, in choosing not to veto, he can still correct this constitutional infirmity by appealing to Congress to reconvene the bicameral conference and rectify the budget imbalance between the education and infrastructure sectors and be compliant with the 1987 Constitution, while the enrolled bill is not yet submitted for his signature and approval,” Lacson said in a statement.
“I believe it will not take one whole day to do it,” he said.
Administration lawmakers thumbed down the proposal for the House and Senate leaderships to recall the ratified General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2025.
“I don’t think there’s any need for us (House and Senate contingent) to reconvene as a bicam. Because we’ve already ratified it in both chambers, so in both the Senate and the House. So, we’re very satisfied with the versions,” Deputy Speaker David Suarez of Quezon, a member of the House contingent to the bicameral meetings on the budget, told reporters.
Suarez said agencies and departments “always want to have more, but unfortunately, our resources are limited.” “So, the balancing act for Congress and the Senate becomes very tricky,” he said.
Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon said the House leadership has not discussed the possibility of recalling the approved GAB, saying “the ball is within the hands of the executive department through our president.”
“The outcome of the budget that was ratified by Senate as well as the House is now undergoing a thorough review of the Office of the President. We have to remember that the President can or may exercise his veto powers. ‘Yung magiging aksyon namin depende sa magiging decision po ng ating Pangulo (Our action will depend on the President’s decision),” he said.
LARGEST SHARE
At the House, Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun said the education sector continues to hold the largest share of the proposed 2025 national budget, with the sector getting a budget that exceeds the Department of Public Works and Highway’s (DPWH) budget by P22 billion.
Khonghun noted that the total approved education sector budget is P1.055 trillion, while the DPWH budget stands at P1.033 trillion, or a P22-billion difference in favor of education.
The education sector budget includes allocations for the following: DepEd, P748.65 billion; Commission on Higher Education (CHED), P34.88 billion; State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), P127.23 billion; Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), P20.97 billion; Local Government Academy (LGA), P529.24 million; Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), P1.37 billion; Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC), P994.3 million; National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), P334.64 million; Philippine Military Academy (PMA), P1.76 billion; Philippine Science High School (PSHS) System, P2.80 billion; and Science Education Institute (SEI), P7.49 billion.
The additional funding for education-related infrastructure amounting to P14.76 billion and the salary differential under Executive Order No. 64 worth P60.59 billion further increases the education budget to P1.055 trillion, Khonghun said.
Khonghun said that in comparison, the DPWH’s original allocation of P1.114 trillion was reduced by P82 billion in convergence projects and even with the addition of P1.2 billion for salary differentials under E.O. No. 64, the net total for its budget stands at P1.033 trillion.
“Malinaw po na hindi pinapabayaan ng administrasyon ang edukasyon. Pinakamalaki pa rin ang alokasyon para sa edukasyon dahil ito ang pundasyon ng ating kinabukasan (It’s clear that the administration did not neglect the budget for education. The education budget remains the biggest because it’s the foundation of our future),” he said.
Khonghun said this only proves that the education sector remains the top priority in the 2025 national budget.
“Fake news po ang kumakalat (online) na paninira sa Kongreso. Hindi totoo na mas malaki ang budget ng DPWH kaysa sa edukasyon sa ating national budget (What’s spreading to discredit Congress is fake news. It’s not true that the DPWH’s budget is bigger than the budget for education under ou national budget),” he told reporters.
The Makabayan bloc earlier slammed the budget cut and protested the bicameral committee’s decision to give the DPWH an additional P289 billion for infrastructure projects, saying it was “rife with pork barrel allocations and opportunities for kickbacks.”
PORK BARREL
Drilon also raised concerns on the “persistent presence” of pork barrel in the national budget, saying that it remains a recurring issue as shown in the big slash in the budget for the education sector and social welfare programs, and the higher DPWH appropriation.
“Same as budgets before. Pork barrel is ever-present, and there is no denying it. It is present and it is funded by removing allocations for education, social welfare, etc,” he said.
He said this is evident with the addition of P288 billion to the DPWH budget. The DPWH budget of under the National Expenditure Program amounted to P825 billion, but this ballooned to P1.113 trillion after “congressional adjustments.”
To fund the P288 billion increase in the DPWH budget, Drilon said the bicameral panel deducted funding for social programs, including P50 billion from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), P50 billion from PhilHealth subsidies, and P30 billion from the CHED, among others.
“This is the pork barrel in DPWH alone. We have not yet seen the extent of similar realignments in other agencies,” he said.
He said the present pork barrel allocation differs from last year’s budget, where unprogrammed funds were inflated allegedly to accommodate realigned projects.
For the 2025 national budget, he said pork barrel insertions were placed in line agencies, particularly the public works department.
“I am not saying that all these congressmen and senators are pocketing this. Because if implemented properly, pork barrel can have some use, can be useful. I repeat and emphasize, basta po tama ang paggamit ng pork barrel, yan po ay puwede makatulong sa taongbayan (as long as pork barrel is used properly, it can be help of to the people),” he said.
Administration lawmakers defended the funding for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), which has been allocated a total funding of P26 billion under the proposed 2025 national budget.
The Makabayan bloc has said that AKAP is a “thinly veiled attempt to legalize ‘ayuda politics’ for the 2025 elections, routing public funds through politicians to enable massive vote-buying disguised as financial assistance.”
“Such a move not only undermines the integrity of elections but also turns the (GAA) into a tool for electioneering,” they said.
Suarez however said critics should not impute malice because the program helps families with insufficient incomes while Rep. Jude Acidre (PL, Tingog) said the country will benefit the most by helping productive citizens.
AKAP provides a one-time cash assistance of P3,000 to P5,000 to qualified beneficiaries whose incomes fall below the poverty threshold and who are not covered by other government aid programs.
It is designed for the near poor, or “lower middle class” segment of the population, which includes minimum wage earners vulnerable to economic shocks like the sudden death of a household head, sickness, loss of job or runaway inflation that can easily send them back to poverty. – With Wendell Vigilia
