P3PWD Party-list Rep. Rowena Guanzon wants the Department of Education (DepEd) to explain where it spent its budget on special education or SPED programs for 2022.
This, after Guanzon claimed on Twitter that DepEd "only spent 1.13 of SPED budget this as of Sept".
"Now that SPED will have 581M for 2023 our PWD (persons with disabilities) network should ask DepEd where they spend this budget," the outspoken former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner said.
The P581 million that Guanzon was referring to was the amount allocated by the Senate for SPED programs next year during the upper chamber's deliberations on the P5.268-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget for 2023.
"All SPED schools should have a therapy room," Guanzon also suggested in a subsequent tweet.
DepEd’s budget for SPED for 2022 is P560 million. The agency is headed by education secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte.
DepEd figures showed that there were 126,598 learners with disabilities during school year 2021 to 2022. This was an uptick from the 111,521 learners with disabilities recorded during the 2020 to 2021 school year.
The budget for SPED became a major talking point during the GAB discussions in the lower chamber or House of Representatives last September after it was learned that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) didn't set aside funds for it for 2023.
ALSO READ:
After approving the GAB on third and final reading last Sept. 30, the House leadership announced institutional amendments to the budget bill that would realign P581 million to the DepEd for the purpose of SPED.
The same amount was later announced by the Senate as being part of their version of the GAB.