A CONGRESSMAN on Thursday asked his colleagues to strip the Education department of confidential funds, saying these are better spent on students’ needs.
“That’s better spent on more teachers and more classrooms,” House Senior Minority Leader and Northern Samar Rep. Paul R. Daza told reporters on the sidelines of a House of Representatives committee hearing on the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024.
“We need repairs [because] there is too much damage on school buildings,” he said. “We also need more IT (information technology) support and teaching aids both for teachers and students.”
Mr. Daza urged Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is the Education secretary, to realign her agency’s funds because she would have double funds from her offices.
“I support a little bit of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President,” Mr. Daza said. “And because she already has a dual role, it would be good if the VP, on her own, requests an institutional realignment.”
Last week, Ms. Carpio defended the Department of Education’s (DepEd) P150-million confidential and intelligence funds in the national budget.
“Education is intertwined with national security,” she told reporters. “It’s important that we mold children who are patriotic, who will love and defend our country.”
Mr. Daza said youth programs should have a separate allocation in the national budget.
“On her own, she can propose an institutional amendment consistent with what she said, that she will use it with youth programs… taking it out from the confidential [funds] and placing it in a specific program,” he said.
The budget for confidential and intelligence funds next year increased by P120 million to P10.14 billion — P5.28 billion in intelligence and P4.86 billion in confidential funds.
Under the 2024 National Expenditure Program, the Office of the President was given P4.5 billion in intelligence funds, while the Department of Information and Communications Technology got confidential funds worth P300 million.
The Bureau of Customs will get P30.5 million, while the Department of Foreign Affairs was allotted P5 million in confidential funds.
The Department of Agriculture was allotted P50 million in confidential funds, the Defense department was given intelligence funds worth P60 million, and the Presidential Security Group was allocated P60 million.
The budget for state colleges and universities fell by 5.7% to P105.58 billion.
Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the budget for education infrastructure has a capital outlay of P25 million for the lowest tier to P50 million for highest tier per state university.
“While the 2024 budget has increases for defense and big-ticket infrastructure projects, increases for education are measly. It does not address learning loss and is riddled with forms of pork,” Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel told the House appropriations committee. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz