Senator Christopher “Bong” Go has expressed his admiration for Vice President Sara Duterte for deciding to forego her request for P650-million worth of confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) which she heads.
This was after the Senate Committee on Finance announced last Thursday, November 9, that the vice president is no longer interested to pursue having such secret funds which has triggered controversy over the past few months.
Duterte, according to Senate finance committee chief Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said the vice president decided to forego her request for CIF due to it being a “divisive” issue.
“Hinahangaan ko po si (I admire) Vice President Sara Duterte for no longer pursuing the request for confidential funds so that we could already settle this divisive issue,” Go said in a statement.
Nevertheless, Go, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Basic Education and vice chairperson of the finance panel, reaffirmed his support for Duterte as Vice President and DepEd Secretary.
Even with his single vote, the senator said he remains firm on his stance on the need for a reallocation of availabel resources towards education advancement.
Go also cited the need to address the continuing classroom shortages in the whole country.
“Unahin ang pagpapatayo at pagsasaayos ng classrooms (Let us prioritize the construction and improvement of classrooms),” he stressed.
“Iisang boto lang naman ako sa Senado, pero ang posisyon ko ay kung anuman ang tinanggal na budget sa DepEd, dapat itong ibalik sa pamamagitan ng mga programa na makakabenepisyo sa mga kababayan natin lalung-lalo na po sa pagtugon sa backlog natin sa classrooms (I only have one vote, but my position on the matter is that we need to return whatever budget was slashed from the DepEd and realign this to programs that would benefit our peole, especially in addressing our backlog on classrooms),” Go said.
“Bilang kasapi po ng Senate Committee on Basic Education at Vice Chair po ng Committee on Finance, nananatili po ang aking tiwala sa ating Bise Presidente at sa ating Secretary po ng DepEd (As a member of the Senate basic education committee and vice chair of the committee on finance, my trust in our vice president and to our DepEd secretary remains),” he stressed.