Teachers expressed outrage on Tuesday, Sept. 3, over allegations of budget misuse under Vice President Sara Duterte’s leadership at the Department of Education (DepEd).
The allegations emerged following a House Committee on Appropriations hearing on the proposed 2025 budget for DepEd held on Sept. 2.
“The audit reports reveal that DepEd, under VP Sara's command, brazenly wasted public funds amid the worsening education crisis,” said Vladimer Quetua, Chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, in a statement.
DepEd’s significant underutilization of funds for teaching and learning equipment in 2022 and 2023, in contrast to its 143 percent efficiency in spending the agency's entire P125-million confidential fund, has sparked anger among teachers.
“This goes beyond mere disservice as teachers and learners suffer in deplorable conditions, grappling with scarce teaching and learning materials and low salaries, while the agency head exploits public office for personal gain and betrays her very mandate to serve the people,” Quetua said. “This is an outrageous moral failure,” he added.
COA report
The findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) for 2023 showed that DepEd only spent P2.75 billion out of the P11 billion allocated for the computerization program.
“Moreover, COA had previously criticized DepEd for its failure to utilize over P3 billion in 2022, which was intended for the procurement of learning tools and equipment (LTE) to be distributed to public schools for science and mathematics, as well as technical-vocational livelihood subjects,” ACT said.
Quetua pointed out that the utilization of funds for the pressing needs of teachers and students moved at a “tortoise's pace,” but when it comes to siphoning off the confidential funds riddled with anomalies, VP Sara was “sprinting like a hare.”
He lamented that teachers have had to “spend their own money and even take out loans” for laptops despite their meager salaries, while countless students are falling behind due to a severe shortage of learning materials and devices.
“Meanwhile, we discover that millions of laptops, books, and other equipment have been gathering dust in warehouses for four years—equipment that should have been distributed to schools,” Quetua said. “This is a glaring sign that VP Sara’s concern for the youth and the people is nothing more than a charade, a mere pretense as she seeks more funds for the OVP program next year,” he added.
Prioritize education budget
Despite the COA findings, ACT emphasized that the government should continue prioritizing the budget for education.
The group stressed that the education budget should not be slashed, pointing out that the “real problem lies in the agency's misuse of funds, driven by misaligned priorities and negligence of the former education secretary, who must be held accountable for her failure and betrayal of duty.”
ACT reiterated its call to double the education budget, in line with United Nations standards of at least six percent of the Gross Domestic Product, to “address the perennial shortages in basic education, resolve the learning crisis, and ensure substantial salary increases for teachers and education workers.”
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