DAVAO CITY – Lawmakers have questioned the controversial P150 million confidential funds proposed by the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Secretary and also Vice President Sara Duterte.
Duterte’s proposed confidential funds are even higher than the proposed P141 million confidential funds of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).
Senator Pia Cayetano now wants Duterte to explain how the DepEd will use the huge confidential funds under its proposed 2023 budget. Cayetano said this is her first time to hear that DepEd is seeking such funds.
“I want to find out paano ba
nagagamit 'yung funds na 'yan and will they be the one to administer it and how
will they use it?” Kailangan ba ng ganung kalaki? Kasi kung maliit lang 'yun, I
think wala na tayong pinag-usapan, 'di ba?” Cayetano told Karen Davila, host of
the ANC's “Headstart.”
Duterte previously said the
confidential fund would be used for programs against so-called sexual grooming,
active shooter copycats, and insurgency recruitment of children and drug
involvement of learners.
Cayetano said while Duterte’s
purpose of having confidential funds is good, she wants clarity in the DepEd’s
role in supposedly protecting children. “I'm just trying to get a better grasp
on whether they handle these actual protective steps such that they have to
handle this kind of funding and does it have to be that much?" she said.
Critics have proposed
rechanneling the proposed confidential funds to other DepEd programs such as
those catering to learners with disabilities which received zero allocation in
DepEd's budget for next year.
The Alliance of Concerned
Teachers also said Duterte’s proposed confidential funds could also be used to
fill in the many shortages in public school supplies.
NICA
Senator Risa Hontiveros confirmed that DepEd’s proposed confidential funds are higher than that requested by
NICA. “The (DepEd) agency should focus on educational reform, instead of
national security. The budget prioritization is misplaced. Let’s leave
intelligence and security to the pros,” she said.
She also asked Duterte if DepEd
would be willing to re-allocate some of its confidential funds to finance the
indigenous peoples’ education program which suffered budget cuts.
Pitching the suggestion during
the Finance Subcommittee D's deliberation of the DepEd's P666.25-billion
proposed budget for next year, Hontiveros asked Duterte how DepEd intends to
spend its requested funds for surveillance and security. Without specifying the
purpose of the allocation, Duterte cited issues and cases involving teachers
and students, such as illegal drugs, abuses, extremism and terrorism,
pornograpy, and other illegal activities.
Duterte said they can,
internally, work out realignments to fund programs and activities that need
funding.
Senator Grace Poe also called for a review of the government’s
feeding program to expand its coverage and increase the number of its
beneficiaries. “It's really important that our children go to school nourished.
It doesn't have to be expensive," said Poe, who pushed for the enactment
of the law. “This is also crucial to the development of the country, that the
children are fed well, educated well, and are cared for well,” she pointed out.
Facilities
Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda also asked why funds worth P3.199 billion
allocated in 2022 to construct basic education facilities only have a
utilization rate of 13.45%. Legarda also noted that since 1998, the DepEd
always had an annual backlog in providing enough school buildings, classrooms,
study tables,
etc. to students. “This has always been one of the challenges of the
department. It’s already the 2023 budget and it's still a challenge. My
question is, will there be a time when we will no longer have a backlog?”
Legarda asked.
Duterte assured the committee that the Department of Public Works and
Highways and DepEd have already included the problem in the list of issues that
they will tackle in their upcoming meetings and promised that they will
immediately address it.
“We hope that by the time we reach the plenary we will be able to
address this. It is an annual problem, not just at your time but with previous
administrations as well. Otherwise, the allocated funds are only wasted. Even
if we want to increase your budget, it will just be wasted if they remain
unused," Legarda said. (Bibo España, Joseph Vidal, ABS-CBN and Mindanao
Examiner)
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