The ACT Teachers Party condemed on December 13 the ₱12 billion cut in the Department of Education budget (DepEd) by the bicameral committee. This reduction (₱10 billion) was supposed to fund digital services to millions of students in public schools. From the ₱748.6 billion initially proposed by Congress and the Senate, the bicameral committee decreased the DepEd’s budget for the next year to ₱737.6 billion.

On the other hand, the committee reinserted the funds for the Ayuda sa Kapos sa Kita Program (AKAP) the Senate already removed earlier. Along with this, the budget for “unprogrammed funds” was raised to ₱531.66 billion. The President has the authority to allocate these unprogrammed funds.

“This substantial budget cut will severely impact our students’ access to digital resources and widen the already massive digital divide among learners,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said. In Congress hearings, the digitalization program is a top priority for the department. However, the program is extremely lagging due to the various anomalies in purchasing equipment, and the inutility of Vice President Sara Duterte while she was DepEd secreatry.

“The Marcos Jr. administration appears to be taking advantage of the public outrage over VP Sara’s anomalous confidential fund use to quietly push through appropriation of an even larger fund for his own corruption,” ACT Teachers Party first nominee Antonio Tinio stated. This reveals the systemic corruption within our government, where exposing one official’s misdeeds serves as smoke screen for others to perpetrate their own, he said.