Palace defends inclusion of PNPA, PMA budgets in education

MANILA, Philippines — Including military and police academies’ funds in the education budget should be looked at with “broader understanding,” Malacañang said yesterday.

Critics have branded the allocation as a circumvention of the Constitution’s requirement to give education the highest budget priority.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said education-related responsibilities are no longer undertaken solely by the Department of Education (DepEd), but also by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and state educational institutions.

“The language of the Constitution is not that specific when it comes to education. You have to look at this with a broader understanding. If before, the treatment was the budget of education was only that allocated to DepEd, that was the wisdom at that time,” Bersamin said at a press briefing.

“The education responsibility has been shifted to other government agencies. Is it fair for everyone to claim that they should not be included in the education sector because the PNP (Philippine National Police) or AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is there? That is not good,” he added.

The DepEd has the greater portion of the education pie, but TESDA, CHED and state-run universities and colleges also have to be considered, Bersamin said.

“If you add up this one, including PMA (Philippine Military Academy), PNPA (PNP Academy) and other offices with primary responsibility for education in their particular areas, that could add up to a bigger budget or bigger slice of the budget for the education sector,” he noted.

After some items under the public works department were vetoed, education became the sector with the highest allocation, in line with the Constitution’s requirement, Bersamin said.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition is questioning the lumping of defense and law enforcement institutions’ outlays with the education sector’s budget.

The group is looking into challenging the legality of this year’s P6.326-trillion budget before the Supreme Court.

The PMA and PNPA, among others, traditionally obtained their funding from their respective agencies.

Meanwhile, during the first full Cabinet meeting this year, President Marcos said he wanted to restore the budget for critical projects that were not given funding by Congress.

Several issues that need to be addressed include the P12-billion budget cut for road maintenance, P500-million cut for routine bridge maintenance and P21-billion cut for feasibility studies, Marcos noted.

The President signed the 2025 budget into law last Dec. 30, but vetoed P194 billion worth of items not in line with his administration’s priorities.

After the Cabinet meeting, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said his agency is handling about 69 of 186 flagship projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board, with major railway projects needing to be implemented soon. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Elizabeth Marcelo