The Department of Education (DEPED) has over P36-B in unused funds that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. can tap to augment the agency’s budget after the bicameral conference committee of Congress moved to remove its P10-B request for computerization program.
This was pointed out on Tuesday by Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ G. Escudero, who said that “the President has the power 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 the DepEd additional funds.”
“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,” Escudero said, citing figures from the submissions of the education department to Congress during the budget hearing.
Over the last three years beginning in 2022, DEPEDhas over P36-B in unused funds from its computerization program.
In 2022, some P13.068-B had been allocated to the education department for its computerization program, and yet about P10.03-B had remained unobligated. Last year, DepEd only spent 50 percent of its P20.4-B allocation under the 2023 GAA. Under the current budget, the agency has yet to spend P15.9-B of its P18.08-B earmarked for computerization.
“That is a total of P36.13-B of unspent funds over the past three years, more than thrice the P10-B that DepEd would like to be restored in its 2025 budget. So may pondo naman na puwedeng i-tap si Presidente,” Escudero said.
The senator from Bicol lamented, however, that due to the failure of DEPED to fully use its 2022 computerization budget, the P10.034-B in unobligated funds will revert to the National Treasury by the end of 2024.
“Education has many champions in both chambers of Congress, and we are all committed to providing our public schools with the support they require. Pero kailangan din masigurado ng DEPED na magagamit ang pondo nito ng maayos. These allocations for education will not help anyone unless the DEPED properly spends them on the projects they are intended for,” Escudero said.
He added: “From 2022 to 2024, 70 percent of the P51.5-B allotted for the DepEd computerization program were unspent. So, one can see why Congress has to be circumspect with regard to budget allocations. Tinitingnan natin hindi lang ‘yung purpose ng pondo, kundi ang kakayahan at kapasidad ng ahensya gamitin ang pondo nila. All these factors are taken into consideration.”
“Parang lumabas kayo ng kaibigan mo at nagyaya s’ya sa buffet, sagot mo. Nakita mo, mahina pala kumain. Kung magayaya ‘yan uli lumabas, malamang ‘di mo na dadalhin sa buffet ‘yun, sa may mga set meal na lang kasi sayang ang gastos. In this situation ang pagiging takaw mata can result in a few hundred pesos wasted; in government we are talking about billions of pesos,” said Escudero to illustrate his point.