Low utilization rate, other deficiencies flagged during VP Sara's stint in DepEd, factors in the budget cut: lawmaker

The low utilization rate, delayed procurement, and omissions committed by the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2023 have significantly contributed to a whopping P12 billion reduction in its budget for next year, administration lawmakers said Monday. 

Under the approved bicameral report for the P6.352 trillion expenditure for fiscal year 2025, the DepEd’s budget saw a nearly P12 billion cut, P10 billion of which was intended for the agency's computerization program.

Initially, DepEd was allotted P748.6 billion before it was trimmed down to P737 billion by the bicam panel, sparking public backlash for its potential unconstitutionality.

Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun asserted that the education sector remains a top government priority but deficiencies in budget utilization during Vice President Sara Duterte’s stint as DepEd secretary were observed.

This includes the computerization program, in which a large number of laptops went undelivered.

“We financed that during the time that Vice President Sara Duterte was still the Department of Education secretary [but] what happened was many laptops that are still in the warehouses that have actually not yet been delivered,” Khonghun told reporters.

“So, they need to explain first what are the programs, and how will they use the money given to them by our government. Because we could not just give them [money] without accounting for how they used the funds,” he added.

During the budget deliberations in September, the DepEd confirmed that there are 12,022 laptops for teaching personnel and 7,558 laptops for non-teaching staff were still undelivered by year-end 2023. 

The delay in the delivery of the computers and laptops, which amounted to P9.17 billion, persists despite the current student-to-computer ratio being 9:1 and the teacher-to-computer ratio being 30:1.

Meanwhile, Tingog Rep. Jude Acidre contended that inefficiencies in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in delivering infrastructure projects should not be grounds to deny the agency its much-needed allocation increase of P1.113 trillion.

“It's not the delivery of computers that has delayed DPWH projects. It often has something to do with climate, natural disasters,” Acidre said in the same briefing.

“We [have to] remember that the size of the infrastructure will always be the size of [our] economic growth,” he added.

With the significant budget cut of DepEd, Khonghun the agency must first improve its utilization rate before they implement any budget adjustments.

Based on findings from the Commission on Audit that have yet to be made public, DepEd during Duterte’s tenure disbursed only 2.75 billion of P11.36 billion allocated for information and communication technology in 2023.

“During the past administration, DepEd was notorious for delayed procurement and its failure to uphold transparency and accountability,” Khonghun said. 

“So, the Department of Education should really prove now that it has changed and that it has improved the responsibility of spending of our government funds,” he averred,” the lawmaker concluded.

Nevertheless, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has pledged to restore the budget slashed from the DepEd following public uproar.

“So, we're working on it to make sure that we will restore it. I do not want to line item veto anything because that just gets in the way. So we're still talking about it and trying to find a way,” the President committed.