Ahead of the 2025 budget deliberations, the committee on appropriations of the House of Representatives (HRep) met on Tuesday to review the budget utilization of the Department of Education (DepEd) for fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
House Committee on Appropriations vice chairperson Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo said the oversight hearing on the DepEd’s budget is pursuant to the commitment of Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and committee chairperson Rep. Elizaldy Co to actively monitor the compliance of agencies with the requirements and conditions for utilizing public funds under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) and other pertinent laws.
This is to ensure the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the national government and all its agencies in the authorized appropriations for Congress as provided under Section 29 Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, she said.
“Under the oversight power of the committee on appropriations we are to ensure that the appropriations under the GAA are utilized and disbursed timely, effectively and efficiently by the intent of Congress,” Quimbo said.
She said the committee has the function to recommend or not whether these activities or projects should be pursued, curtailed or eliminated in the proposal for the next budget year to be authorized by Congress.
DepEd Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla reported that her agency’s budget utilization for 2023 is 95%, with the remainder considered as continuing appropriation. About P3 billion budget for personal services (PS), intended for positions to be filled up, lapsed in 2023.
She added that DepEd’s computerization program has an unobligated allotment of P10.260 billion; another P867 million for textbooks also remained unobligated.
“The Constitution mandates that education receive the highest budgetary priority … Given this large budget, even a small percentage translates to a significant public fund,” Quimbo stressed, adding that a 1 percent underutilization of the budget can significantly impact the department’s programs.
“We must address this underutilization for better planning, execution capacity building, transparency, stakeholder engagement to ensure that allocated funds are fully and effectively utilized,” Quimbo added.
Rep. Mark Go (Lone District, Baguio) noted DepEd’s 12.37% procurement performance in 2022, asking if it is a management or a supplier problem.
DepEd Undersecretary Gerardo Chan reported the agency’s procurement challenges and catch-up plans. According to him, DepEd has awarded 54.82% of the items listed in its 2023 Annual Procurement Plan (APP).
For 2024, as of July 17, DepEd has awarded contracts worth 23.58 billion, which equivalent to 71.37% procurement performance.
Chan said that DepEd has established a new procurement office to facilitate its procurement processes.
Rep. Jaime Fresnedi (Lone District, Muntinlupa City) questioned if textbooks are distributed centrally or regionally, and cited the poor rating of the country’s learners as shown in the program for international student assessment (PISA) due to the lack of textbooks.
DepEd Undersecretary Gina Gonong responded that part of the plan is to encourage more textbook printers but there is a need to capacitate the regions.
“By 2026, procurement of textbooks will happen in the region,” Gonong said.
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