Pia Cayetano: VP Sara also giving up DepEd's request for confidential funds
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte is also no longer interested to pursue the Department of Education’s (DepEd) request for a P150-million worth of confidential funds for 2024.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, who is defending DepEd’s proposed P718-billion budget for 2024, read Duterte’s statement during the Senate’s deliberation into the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget.
“We are all parents who want to protect our children. Ang seguridad ng mga bata ay seguridad ng kinabukasan ng ating bayan (The security of our children is the security of our nation). Nonetheless, DepEd will no longer pursue confidential funds,” said Cayetano, citing Duterte's statement.
“We humbly request that the funds be realigned to the National Learning Recovery Program (NLRP) because we do not expect good scores for the 2022 PISA results coming out this December,” the senator added, quoting Duterte’s statement.
DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa, in an interview, also confirmed the vice president’s decision.
“Dahil po nakikita…may tendency magkawatak-watak o magiging divisive itong isyu na ito. Dahil dito naniniwala ang ating bise presidente na siya ay nanumpa na panatilihing mapayapa at matatag ang bansang Pilipinas (She saw there is a tendency for Filipinos to be divided on the issue. That’s why the vice president believes she made a promise to maintain peace and order for the Philippines),” Poa said.
“Kaya hindi na po niya ipu pursue ang (so she will no longer pursue the) proposal for confidential funds,” he said.
Prior to this, the Office of the Vice President, also headed by Duterte, also gave up its request for P500-million confidential funds.