Vice President Sara Duterte named House Speaker Martin Romualdez and House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Ako-Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co as the two lawmakers in control of the country’s coffers, claiming as well that they meddled with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) budget for classroom construction.
(From left) Ako-Bicol Partylist Rep. Zaldy Co, Vice President Sara Duterte, and Speaker Martin Romualdez (Photos from Facebook pages of Co, Duterte, and Romualdez)
In the second part of a videotaped interview, a transcript of which was released by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Tuesday, Sept. 10, the official explained that one of the reasons why she resigned as DepEd chief was because the two lawmakers were intruding into the agency’s budget.
“Ang budget ng Pilipinas ay hawak lang ng dalawang tao. Hawak lang siya ni Cong. Zaldy Co at ni Cong. Martin Romualdez. 'Yan ang katotohanan (The Philippines’ budget is controlled only by two people. It is controlled by Cong. Zaldy Co and Cong. Martin Romualdez. That’s the truth),” she said.
The Vice President furthered that both lawmakers meddled with the DepEd’s budget in 2023 and 2024, which led to her resignation because she didn’t want to answer for them.
“So, dagdag ko lang 'yan doon sa confirmation na kinuha nila 'yung budget ng DepEd. At isa 'yan sa mga rason kung bakit ako nag-resign sa Department of Education (So, I will just add to the confirmation that they took DepEd’s budget. That’s one of the reasons why I resigned from the Department of Education),” she said.
Duterte left President Marcos’ Cabinet last July.
“Hindi na ako papayag na sa susunod na taon ganyan pa rin ang gawin nila at ako 'yung mananagot sa ginagawa nila (I will not allow them to do the same thing next year and make me face the consequences of what they did),” she added.
The official explained that in 2023, there was a P5-billion allocation for classroom construction, and she defended this from unnamed lawmaker who asked for a “cut” of the fund.
“Pero noong lumabas yung GAA o yung budget approved noong 2023, naging 15 billion siya dahil hindi nga ako pumayag na kunin 'yung five billion, dinagdagan nila ng 10 billion 'yung classroom construction ng Department of Education (When the GAA [General Appropriations Act] or the budget approved for 2023 was released, it became 15 billion because I didn’t allow them to take from the five billion, they added 10 billion to the classroom construction of the Department of Education),” she said.
“'Yung 10 billion na 'yun hindi kontrolado ng Department of Education. Controlled 'yun ni Cong. Zaldy Co at Cong. Martin Romualdez (That 10 billion is not controlled by the Department of Education. That’s controlled by Cong. Zaldy Co and Cong. Martin Romualdez),” Duterte added.
The same thing happened on the DepEd’s budget for classroom construction in 2024, which amounted to P19 billion.
Noting that this became P24 billion under the GAA, the official revealed that the additional P5 billion came from the P6.5-billion for classroom rehabilitation, leaving a measly P1.5 billion to fix school classrooms.
Duterte said that this experience made her forego defending her office’s budget next year because in the end, only two people will decide on its approval.