With largest-ever education budget bid, ombudsman for DepEd pushed
MANILA, Philippines — With the Department of Education seeking the largest budget in its history — over P900 billion for 2026 — Rep. Chel Diokno (Akbayan Partylist) on Wednesday, September 3, urged the creation of a deputy ombudsman that will focus solely on complaints of corruption in education and social services.
Weak oversight and years of underspending on key programs, such as the procurement and delivery of learning materials, shows there is a need for a dedicated watchdog in the sector, Diokno suggested during the House appropriation committee's deliberations of DepEd's spending plan for 2026.
"Of all the kinds of corruption that we could ever have in government, the worst is when it comes to education and social services," Diokno told Education Secretary Sonny Angara during the hearing.
"Yan ‘yung dapat no touch at dapat wala talagang makikialam diyan pagdating sa corruption. Unfortunately…from where I stand, I don't see much initiative in that respect," the lawmaker added.
The call for enhanced oversight comes as DepEd continues to deal with a damning track record of inefficient spending and delivery of learning materials, problems that lawmakers say Angara has only inherited from previous administrations.
Angara became DepEd secretary in July 2024 following the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte from the position.
Duterte held the post for around two years and had succeeded former DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, who has been charged with graft and falsification over the P2.4 billion overpriced laptops procured during the pandemic.
Poor delivery of textbooks, meals
Diokno pointed out that in 2023 and 2024 — years when Duterte was education secretary — textbook disbursement rates were a measly 11% in 2023 and 17% in 2024.
School-based feeding programs fared only marginally better, with disbursement rates reaching just 48% in 2024.
In response, Angara outlined sweeping reforms designed to fix the procurement delays that have plagued the department. The most significant change involves streamlining the textbook acquisition process, which previously required three separate bidding procedures for manuscript creation, printing and delivery.
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"We've tried to shorten that process and combine it," Angara said. Under the new system, whichever firm gets the contract to supply the textbooks will also handle delivery.
The department is also abandoning its previous practice of requiring all textbooks to be curated exclusively by DepEd. Instead, it will pre-accredit titles from various authors, mirroring practices in the private sector where schools purchase from available options.
"We are acknowledging that it's not only DepEd who can create books for our schools — there are so many authors in the Philippines and the private schools use their books," Angara said. "So we've widened that."
The department also plans to decentralize purchasing authority to regional divisions rather than maintaining the current centralized system.
"We also want to empower a lot of our divisions, regions to be able to buy also the books," Angara said. "It's not overly centralized anymore."
Feeding program challenges
For school-based feeding programs, Angara defended DepEd's low disbursement figures by explaining the payment structure for suppliers delivering meals to schools.
Suppliers typically provide meals throughout the school year, but receive payment only at the end. This creates what Angara called a "back-ended" system that naturally depresses obligation rates during the school year.
"Many of the divisions who bid it out, they do a one-time, big-time payment," Angara said. "The supplier will feed first but the payment comes at the end. Sometimes the payment is the following year because that's the end of the school year."
Despite the structural challenges, Angara reported that overall obligation rates for feeding programs reached 81% last year.
The department has assigned each undersecretary and assistant secretary to monitor specific regions and follow up with directors when allocations lag.
"We're trying all means," Angara said.
Multiple watchdogs but limited impact
Diokno also asked the DepEd secretary about "who polices DepEd."
"I know you have so much on your plate. You have so many people to manage. Sino pong nagpupulis sa DepEd?" the lawmaker asked.
Angara said current oversight of DepEd involves multiple agencies, including the Commission on Audit, the Ombudsman, both houses of Congress, and EDCOM 2, which is chaired by Rep. Roman Romulo in the House and jointly led by Sens. Bam Aquino and Alan Cayetano in the Senate.
"They keep us on our toes," Angara said of the various oversight bodies.
The lawmaker then floated the possibility of a deputy ombudsman "who would look after concerns of the Department of Education and social services."
Angara welcomed Diokno's proposal but acknowledged it would require legislative action, particularly with the law guiding the function of the Office of the Ombudsman.
"I think that would be welcome," the DepEd secretary said. "Because I totally agree with you, with your statement that that's the worst kind, because you're stealing money that's intended for the poorest members of our society."
Biggest scandal in years. In July, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered graft and falsification charges against former Education Secretary Leonor Briones and 13 other officials over the P2.4-billion procurement of overpriced laptops during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ombudsman found that officials conspired to purchase over 39,000 laptops at P58,300 each through the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service, despite originally budgeting only P35,046 per unit. Identical Dell laptops with better specifications were also available in the market at the time.
The scandal involved backdating a key memorandum of agreement to provide legal cover for the fund transfer, leading to falsification charges against Briones and six other officials.
The scheme resulted in nearly P979 million in "undue injury" to the government and left thousands of teachers without laptops at a time when schools shifted to online learning.
Largest in history. For 2026, DepEd and its attached agencies are seeking an overall budget of P928 billion — the largest in the department's history.
Under this budget, at least P13.8 billion will be allocated for the procurement of ICT packages and other materials for classroom connectivity, including laptops for teachers (P9.3 billion).
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