黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The P12 billion cut in the Department of Education鈥檚 (DepEd) proposed budget for 2025 proves that the current administration has an anti-education policy, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said on Friday.

Castro in a statement said that the proposed 2025 budget shows the priorities of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.鈥檚 administration, as the United Nations (UN) recommendation of allocating 6 percent of a country鈥檚 gross domestic product (GDP) to education was supposedly not followed.

鈥淭his budget cut is completely unacceptable and shows where this administration鈥檚 priorities truly lie. Instead of working towards the UN-recommended education budget of 6% of GDP, the Marcos Jr. administration is doing the opposite by slashing vital education funds,鈥� Castro claimed.

鈥淧aano nga ba maiibsan ang learning crisis kung binabawasan pa ang pondo ng edukasyon? Ang P10 billion na kinat sa computerization program ay malaking dagok sa ating mga mag-aaral na desperadong makahabol sa digital age,鈥� she added.

(How can we address the learning crisis if we reduce funds for education?聽 The P10 billion cut from the computerization program will be a huge blow to our students, who are desperate to catch up with the digital age.)

According to Castro, even if transactions made by DepEd鈥檚 past administration鈥攗nder Vice President Sara Duterte 鈥� were clouded with controversy, teachers and students should not suffer from this.

Duterte and her former officials at the DepEd have been subjects of a congressional probe regarding allegedly irregular confidential fund (CF) expenditures. Previously, the Vice President was also criticized for low utilization rates for key DepEd projects, like the computerization program.

READ: Solons blast low budget use, non-delivery of laptops of DepEd under Sara聽

鈥淗indi dapat magdusa ang mga estudyante, guro, at education support personnel dahil sa mga anomalyang ginawa ng dating secretary. The answer to corruption is not to decrease funding but to strengthen accountability measures and increase support for our learners,鈥� she said.

鈥淪tudents, teachers, and the education support personnel should not suffer because of the anomalies involving the former secretary.)

Castro鈥檚 statements came after the bicameral conference committee tackling differences in the Senate and the House of Representatives鈥� versions of the 2025 budget came out with a report showing that the education sector suffered budget cuts.

READ: Defense, MMDA, DICT budgets hiked; UP, SUCs, DepEd see cuts聽

No less than former senator and now Education Secretary Sonny Angara lamented the budget cut suffered by DepEd, noting that this could have been a huge help for the agency鈥檚 computerization bid.

鈥淧10 billion was cut from the proposed 2025 computerization program of the DepEd. That could have funded thousands of computers/gadgets for our public school children. Infrastructure is important but so is investing in our people and human capital. The digital divide will widen,鈥� Angara said in a tweet.

鈥淪ad to learn that both Houses of Congress have decided to decrease by P12 billion the budget the President proposed for DepEd for 2025. This reverses a trend in recent years where Congress adds even more to the education budget (save for one year during the pandemic),鈥� he added.

https://x.com/sonnyangara/status/1867188114554589333

Former ACT Teachers party-list representative Antonio Tinio aired the same sentiments.

鈥淭he P10 billion cut from the computerization program would have provided thousands of students access to digital learning tools. This administration talks about economic recovery, but how can we achieve that when we鈥檙e compromising our children鈥檚 future?鈥� Tinio asked.

鈥淲e demand the immediate restoration of the P12 billion budget cut and call for a significant increase in education funding. Education is a right, not a privilege. Kung may pondo para sa confidential funds at infrastructure projects, dapat may pondo rin para sa edukasyon ng ating kabataan,鈥� he added.

(If there are funds for confidential funds and infrastructure projects, we should have funds for the education of our people.)

This is not the first time that Castro called out the government for a supposedly inadequate budget for the education sector.聽 In August 2023, the lawmaker said that while the proposed allocation for the education sector in 2024 is higher than the subsequent year, it is not enough to support several needs.

READ: Proposed education budget still insufficient despite increase 鈥� Rep. Castro聽

Castro said that as the country is projected to have a gross domestic product (GDP) of P25.40 trillion in 2024, the budget for education should at least be P1.525 trillion if the government would observe UN standards.