ACT to Angara: Don’t appoint persons without education background

MANILA, Philippines — Incoming education secretary Sonny Angara should not appoint persons with no background in and commitment to education now that he is seeking to replace five ranking officials who resigned from the Department of Education (DepEd), the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said yesterday.

The ACT asserted that it considers Vice President and outgoing Education Secretary Sara Duterte’s decision to appoint retired Army generals to her executive committee a “mistake.”

“The recent resignations give the new DepEd secretary the opportunity to form his own team that is genuinely committed to addressing the pressing issues and concerns of the education sector,” the group said.

“We strongly advise the incoming DepEd secretary Sen. Angara against repeating the previous administration’s errors by appointing individuals, such as retired military generals, who lack the necessary background in and commitment to education,” it added.

Last Tuesday, DepEd Undersecretary and chief-of-staff Michael Poa announced that he and four other ranking officials had resigned from their posts to give Angara “a free hand” to choose members of his executive committee.

Also leaving with Poa are Assistant Secretaries Sunshine Fajarda and Reynold Munsayac, both lawyers, and two retired Philippine Army generals that Duterte appointed to her executive committee last year – Undersecretary for administration Maj. Gen. Nolasco Mempin and Assistant Secretary for administration Brig. Gen. Noel Baluyan.

P12 billion MOOE hike

Meanwhile, the DepEd will propose a P12-billion increase in public schools’ maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) to help boost the funds for direct support for teachers, students and overall school operations, especially small schools in remote areas.

This was announced by DepEd finance director Ana Marie Calapit, who said the agency’s operations and finance clusters have firmed up plans to bolster school operations by increasing the MOOE funds by an average of 32.1 percent or an increase of more than P12 billion next year.

The proposal was presented during a meeting in Cebu last July 15 as the agency prepares to defend its 2025 proposed budget to Congress.

Next year’s budget for school MOOE stands at P49,761,582,000 from last year’s P37,657,632,000.

Calapit said the National Capital Region shall receive the least increase in school MOOE at 16 percent, from last year’s P2,379,328,000 to P2,760,315,000.

The Cordillera Administrative Region shall receive the highest increase at 44.2 percent, from P910,749,000 this year to P1,312,986,000 next year.

Meanwhile, with the opening of school year 2024-2025 fast approaching, environmental group BAN Toxics yesterday expressed concern over the proliferation of children’s school supplies laced with harmful chemicals as it asked the Food and Drug Administration to recall these products to protect the young from toxic exposure. – Bella Cariaso