President can tap ₱36-B unspent funds to boost DepEd budget - Escudero

Metro Manila, Philippines – Amid criticisms over the ₱12 billion reduction in the Department of Education budget for next year, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the president could augment the agency funding from tens of billions in unspent funds.

“The president has the power to 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,” Escudero said in a statement on Tuesday.

Escudero said the agency has ₱36.13 billion in unspent funds over the past three years, all allocated for its computerization program. He pointed out that this amount is more than three times the reduced amount for the program.

Escudero noted that in 2022, DepEd failed to utilize ₱10.03 billion of its ₱13.068 billion budget for the program, which will be reverted to the plenary by year-end.

Last year, he added, DepEd left half of its ₱20.4-billion allocation unspent, while under the current budget, the agency has yet to use ₱15.9 billion of the ₱18.08 billion for computerization.

“From 2022 to 2024, 70 percent of the ₱51.5 billion allotted for the DepEd computerization program were unspent. So one can see why Congress has to be circumspect with regard to budget allocations,” Escudero said.

“Tinitingnan natin hindi lang ‘yung purpose ng pondo, kundi ang kakayahan at kapasidad ng ahensya gamitin ang pondo nila [We are looking at not just the purpose of the funds, but also the ability and capacity of the agency to use its funds],” he added.

The Senate leader took a swipe at his former colleague, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, who earlier expressed concern over the budget reduction for his agency. Angara previously served as chairman of the Senate committee on finance, a position now held by Senator Grace Poe following his appointment as DepEd Secretary.

“Madami naman po source to augment. DepEd and its secretary should know because the submissions for the budget deliberations on their own dismal fund utilization came from them,” Escudero said.

Senator Imee Marcos agreed that her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., could augment an agency budget as long as it has savings or unspent funds.

“It’s a big if. May savings ba talaga? Sa dinami-rami, sa limpak limpak na salapi na nilagay sa unprogrammed, talaga bang sigurado ba tayo? Hindi tayo nakasisiguro. Samantalang yung krisis natin sa edukasyon, yun ang talagang walang kaduda-duda,” Marcos said in a chance interview before Tuesday’s session.

[Translation: It's a big if. Are there really savings? With all the funds, with the vast amounts of money placed under unprogrammed, can we really be sure? We can't be certain. Meanwhile, the crisis in our education system is something that is undoubtedly real.]

President Marcos earlier stated that he is exploring ways to restore the ₱10-billion cut for the computerization program but noted that he does "not want to line-item veto anything."

Senators Marcos and Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri both said the president could call on Congress to reconvene the bicameral conference committee to address certain provisions in the 2025 budget.

This is the last week of Senate sessions before the three-week Christmas break. However, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino said they can return to the session hall at any time if the president calls for a special session.

“Wala pa akong alam na ano, to extend the session but the President can always call for a special session kahit nakabakasyon [I don't know anything about extending the session, but the President can always call for a special session even while on vacation],” Tolentino said in another interview, noting that the threat of failing to enact the 2025 budget could be considered an emergency.