ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Dela Rosa vows to fight for DepEd's confidential funds, but not die for it

Dela Rosa vows to fight for DepEd's confidential funds, but not die for it

Published Oct 16, 2023 10:53 am

While Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa has expressed his intent to fight for the confidential funds of the Department of Education (DepEd), he will however, not "die" for it.

In an interview on Monday, Oct. 16, Dela Rosa said that he would first get the consensus of his colleagues if they are for or against returning the confidential funds of DepEd that were slashed by the House of Representatives (HOR) before making a formal motion.

He said that initially, he had nothing against removing the confidential funds of the DepEd, but he doesn't want to waste the opportunity to fight insurgency specifically the recruitment of students in schools by the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army/National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

"Kung hindi tayo makakuha ng suporta at ang (If we don't get any support and the) prevailing sentiment talaga ng karamihan ng kasamahan ko ay ayaw, huwag ibalik (of my colleagues is to really deny or not return it) then I will not do that in the plenary," he said. 

Under the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or proposed national budget for 2024 of the HOR, Deped along with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was stripped of their confidential funds.

The "small committee" tasked to collate individual amendments of House members to the 2024 GAB recommended that a total of P1.23 billion in confidential funds be realigned in the budget measure.

"I'm not dying for that ah. Ang akin lang nasasayangan lang ako sa tiyansa (I just don't want to waste the chance)," he mentioned.

Dela Rosa said that while knows the sentiments of Senators Robin Padilla, Francis Tolentino, and Bong Go, it's not enough to convince him to fight in the plenary. 

The senator said that he has no problem if the funds will be instead given to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) but stated that their fight against insurgency is on a general scope.

For Dela Rosa, DepEd is the most qualified agency to combat the recruitment of insurgent groups and not the PNP nor the AFP since this occurs inside the classroom and is within their turf. 

"Bawat classroom may teacher . So sino dapat ang gamitin mo para macounter yung recruitment efforts ng CPP-NPA-NDF? Yung tao mismo ng DepEd, yung mga teachers (Every classroom has a teacher. So will you tap to counter the recruitment efforts of CPP-NPA-NDF? It's the DepEd's people, the teachers. )," he explained.

In case the confidential funds are removed, Dela Rosa said that he has no problem with it and that it should go to the rightful agencies who need it. 

Related Tags

Communist Party of the Philippines National Democratic Front of the Philippines Department of education (DepEd) Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa New People's Army
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.