REP. Rowena Guanzon (P3PWD PL) yesterday sought an explanation from the Department of Education (DepEd) on how it spends its annual budget for special education, saying that only 1.13 percent of the P560 million budget for SPED has been used as of September this year.
“Now that SPED will have 581M for 2023, our PWD (persons with disabilities) network should ask DepEd where they will spend this budget. DepEd only spent 1.13 percent of SPED budget this year as of September,” the former elections commissioner said on Twitter.
The DepEd will have a P581 million budget for SPED next year after lawmakers decided to realign funds for the item, which was initially unfunded under the agency’s proposed national budget for 2023.
This year, the department has a P560 million budget for SPED.
The DepEd used to be headed by secretary Leonor Briones before Vice President Sara Duterte was appointed as concurrent education secretary by President Marcos Jr.
When the House of Representatives was still deliberating on the proposed P5.268 trillion national budget for 2023, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the DepEd blamed each other for the zero allocation for SPED.
Congressmen who were then tackling the 2023 general appropriations bill (GAB) in the House plenary later introduced amendments, including a realignment of P581 million for SPED.
The Senate, which is still deliberating on the budget, has also allocated the same amount for SPED.
DepEd figures showed there were 126,598 learners with disabilities in schoolyear 2021 to 2022.
