The total budget for the education sector for 2025 is still higher than that of the Department of Public Works and Highways, according to Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun.

MANILA, Philippines — The total budget for the education sector is still higher than that of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun clarified on Tuesday.

In an ambush interview at the House of Representatives People’s Center, Khonghun addressed claims that the bicameral conference committee’s version of the proposed 2025 budget supposedly gave more funds to the DPWH than the education sector.

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He said lawmakers support Education Secretary Sonny Angara’s call for a bigger budget for the Department of Education (DepEd), particularly its computerization program.

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“Although we support the call of [Education] Secretary Angara for an additional budget for DepEd’s computerization, and of course, we also back the call of our President for an extra budget in DepEd, what we are saying is that if you add the funding for the entire education sector, it will still be bigger compared to DPWH,” he explained in Filipino.

“We support these calls. I just want to clarify that. We support Secretary Angara’s call to give DepEd a bigger budget for its computerization program,” he added.

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Figures given by Khonghun also showed that a total of P1.055 trillion was allocated to the education sector, broken down into the following:

Article continues after this advertisement DepEd: P782.1 billion Commission on Higher Education (CHED): P34.88 billion State Universities and Colleges (SUCs): P127.2 billion Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA): P20.97 billion Local Government Academy (LGA): P529.2 million Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA): P1.365 billion Philippine Public Safety College (PPSC): P994.3 million National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP): P334.6 million Philippine Military Academy (PMA): P1.764 billion Philippine Science High School (PSHS) System: P2.804 billion Science Education Institute (SEI): P7.492 billion Education-Related Infrastructure: P14.76 billion Salary differential for the education sector under E.O. No. 64: P60.59 billion.

Meanwhile, DPWH has P1.114 trillion, and P1.217 billion was added for the salary differential of DPWH employees, totaling at least P1.235 trillion. While this is bigger than that of the education sector, Khonghun also noted that P82.08 billion of DPWH’s funds are convergence projects.

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It means that while it is infrastructure, it is intended for the projects of other departments like DepEd — classrooms and other facilities — and the Department of Health.

This would leave DPWH with P1.033 trillion — slightly lower than the entire education sector.

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Before Khonghun’s clarification, there were fears that the bicam-approved 2025 General Appropriations Bill was on the verge of violating the 1987 Constitution.

Under Article XIV, Section 5 of the Constitution, the government must “assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”

Last August 12, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said the P12-billion cut in DepEd’s proposed 2025 budget proves that the Marcos administration has an anti-education policy.

According to Castro, the United Nations’ recommendation of allocating 6 percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to education was supposedly not followed.

READ: DepEd budget cut screams admin’s anti-education policy — Castro

After Angara also complained about the budget cut, the DepEd chief said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed to restore the budget.

READ: Angara: Marcos to remedy huge DepEd budget cut

On Monday, Khonghun and other members of the House’s Young Guns bloc, however, said that DepEd should show that it can efficiently use its funds before Congress allocates a higher budget for its computerization program.

Khonghun noted that DepEd’s utilization rate for its information and communication technology project was only P2.75 billion of P11.36 billion.

Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre and La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V, meanwhile, clarified that DepEd’s budget slash was not reflective of Angara’s performance, but of the agency’s inability to use funds efficiently.

According to Acidre, it is unfortunate because he knows Angara is a very good public servant, but the agency that the former senator joined last July 2024 has been flagged for not utilizing a huge chunk of its budget for the computerization program.

The High Court in London will examine over several months whether BHP was partly liable for the 2015 collapse of a dam at a mining waste site in Brazil.

READ: Solons: DepEd has to prove first it can disburse, use funds properly

Undelivered laptops were among the issues discussed at the deliberations of DepEd’s proposed budget last September 2, just weeks after Angara took the helm from Vice President Sara Duterte, who resigned as Deped chief.

During the discussions, DepEd Director Ferdinand Pitagan confirmed that only P2.18 billion out of P11.36 billion funds for computers, laptops, and smart television sets — items crucial for e-learning — were spent.

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READ: Solons blast low budget usebetmpv, non-delivery of laptops of DepEd under Sara

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