DBM chief disputes budget mishandling claims of Sara

MANILA, Philippines — Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman yesterday disputed Vice President Sara Duterte’s claim that the 2024 General Approriations Act (GAA) was “mishandled,” saying adjustments in budget proposals depend on Congress.

“We always respect the wisdom of Congress if they want to make adjustments in the budget,” Pangandaman told reporters at Malacañang when asked to comment on Duterte’s allegation.

In an interview on GMA News recently, Duterte said the “mishandling” of the budget for 2024 was among her “long list of reasons” for resigning as chief of the Department of Education (DepEd).

“And these reasons are in various categories – personal, which I would keep between me and the President. There’s a reason involving DepEd, there’s about the budget and there’s also something about the nation in general,” Duterte said in the interview.

Duterte said she had issues with how the 2024 national budget was appropriated by Congress.

But Pangandaman said the DepEd under Duterte received a “huge increase” in budget in 2024.

“In fact, from P711 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) it became P715 billion in the GAA. What I can say is, it (DepEd budget) was quite a huge increase from its previous level in 2023,” the budget chief said.

Pangandaman said the government increased DepEd’s appropriation for this year to support the department’s MATATAG Agenda. DepEd received P633.3 billion in 2022 and P676.1 billion in 2023.

In her interview, Duterte claimed exerting efforts to correct the “mishandling” of funds, but that her efforts were all for naught as no changes were made in the budget.

“The government might want to fund these infrastructure projects which are in accordance with the master plan? Or they are hesitating because a Duterte is a sitting mayor and they would rather tear down what was already started?” Duterte added in Filipino, referring to her brother, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte.

Rep. Jil Bongalon of Ako Bicol party-list, meanwhile, chided Duterte for being “silent” on the problems of DepEd when she was still at the helm of the department.

“Did she even help our overburdened and overworked public school teachers? At one point, I can still vividly recall that she suggested holding Saturday classes only to catch up with the targeted June school calendar opening, which President Marcos politely declined,” Bongalon said.

“Show some humility, Ms. VP! Your complaints could have been addressed, and they could have resulted in more productive endeavors if you had raised them early on. Don’t make government your punching bag,” he said.

La Union Rep. Francisco Paolo Ortega also lambasted the Vice President for criticizing the administration even if she herself had been remiss in her duty on many occasions.

“The last time we heard from her was when she left with her entourage at the height of Super Typhoon Carina, while the President and all of us were preparing for the storm’s onslaught. Stop complaining ma’am. Let’s work and help each other to develop the country,” Ortega said on his social media accounts.

Government pay hike ready

Also yesterday at a briefing at the Department of Budget and Management, Pangandaman said state workers are expected to receive their pay hike as early as this month as the government moved to implement the latest tranche of the salary standardization law (SSL).

She said the DBM had already issued national and local circulars to start the release process.

“These circulars will serve as the guidelines on how to compute the adjustments in the salary,” Pangandaman said. “Agencies can start adjusting immediately.”

The budget chief explained existing personnel services funds can be utilized for the required salary changes, with any shortfall to be covered by the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF).

“But it all depends on how fast agencies will be able to process this,” Pangandaman said.

For 2024, DBM allotted P36 billion for MPBF for the implementation of the first tranche of SSL VI this year, and P70 billion under the 2025 NEP.

Two more salary hikes are expected by 2026 and 2027.

The SSL VI is designed to make public personnel’s salaries more competitive with those in the private sector, and in effect boost productivity, enhance service delivery and improve overall government effectiveness.

The updated salary schedule applies to all civilian government personnel in the executive, legislative and judicial branches, state-run corporations not covered by the GOCC Governance Act, constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices and local government units.

The salary increase is not applicable to military and uniformed personnel and to individuals engaged without employer-employee relationship and funded from non-personnel services budget. — Delon Porcalla, Jun Elias