EDUCATION Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara yesterday said he is confident President Marcos Jr. will address concerns that he has raised over the P12 billion budget cut in the department’s proposed funding for 2025.
Angara earlier said he is saddened by the decision of lawmakers to decrease by P12 billion the DepEd’s allocation in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill.
Angara, a former senator, said the budget cut reversed a trend in recent years where additional funds are given by Congress to the education sector.
He said P10 billion of the P12 billion was earmarked for the acquisition of thousands of laptops and tablets for the country’s public school system.
He also said that the Commission on Higher Education likewise suffered a P30 billion budget cut under the approved budget bill.
In an Instagram post Sunday, Angara again emphasized the importance of education as he expressed optimism that Malacañang would do something to address the budget cut.
“Budgeting is really about priorities and education is too important to not be a funding priority. Pero ang maganda dito, mismong si President Bongbong ang nagsabi sa amin na reremedyohan niya ito (But the good thing here is that President Bongbong has assured us that he will find a way to address this),” Angara said but did not provide details about the President’s supposed statement.
Though he acknowledged that the of P737 billion funding for DepEd next year is higher than this year’s allocation, Angara said the increase still falls short of addressing the department’s personnel needs, such as hiring of teachers and administrative personnel and to implement the Salary Standardization Law.
He said the allocation for personnel services also sustained a cut of P1.5 billion.
The President is expected to sign the 2025 budget on December 20.
