By Darryl John Esguerra | Philippine News Agency
The education sector now has the lion’s share of the 2025 national budget as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. struck down some items under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Marcos on Monday signed into law the 2025 national budget after he vetoed P194 billion in line items.
Next year’s government budget was originally set at P6.352 trillion, but the President’s vetoes trimmed it down to P6.326 trillion.
Of the vetoed items, P26.065 billion were projects under the DPWH and P168.240 billion allocated were under unprogrammed appropriations.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the education sector now has the highest allocation with P1.055 trillion following the cuts in the DPWH budget.
The funding is spread across the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Local Government Academy, Philippine National Police Academy, Philippine Public Safety College, National Defense College of the Philippines, Philippine Military Academy, Philippine Science High School System, Science Education Institute, and state universities and colleges.
The DPWH is left with P1.007 trillion.
According to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, it is the first time that education and infrastructure budgets both hit the trillion-peso mark.
“That would augur well for the economy’s growth for 2025,” he said in a Palace press briefing.
Other agencies with the biggest budget allocation for 2025 are the Department of National Defense with P315.1 billion; Department of the Interior and Local Government with P279.1 billion; Department of Health with P267.8 billion; and Department of Agriculture with P237.4 billion.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has an allocation of P217.5 billion; Department of Transportation with P123.7 billion; the Judiciary with P64 billion; and Department of Justice with P42.2 billion.
DepEd budget cuts
The administration is also looking to remedy the budget cuts in the DepEd, in line with the promise of the President to “restore” the slashed appropriations.
Although the executive cannot increase the funding of agencies once the bicameral conference committee submits the budget bill to the President, Pangandaman said the government may still tap unprogrammed appropriations and excess revenues for education programs.
“As long as mayroon tayong additional revenue from the DOF [Department of Finance], we can actually augment or increase the budget of DepEd. Specifically for the computerization program,” she said.
Recto agreed, saying that the President prioritizes education.
“I think the President wants to prioritize the additional spending on education, which is found in the unprogrammed portion of the budget. So, if there are excess revenues, we would immediately release that part of the budget,” he said.
The DepEd earlier decried the P10 billion budget cut in its Computerization Program, saying that it would widen the digital divide among students.
