MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday, January 7, defended its decision to classify more bodies like the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) under the education sector of the 2025 national budget.
The government has been criticized for including agencies in the education sector that were not included before, all for the sake of complying with the law.
“Iyong language of the Constitution is not that specific ‘no, na sinabing education—you have to look at this with a more… in a broader understanding. If before, the treatment was ang budget ng education was only allocated to DepEd. That was the wisdom at that time,” Bersamin said.
(The language of the Constitution is not that specific, when it said education—you have to look at this with a more… in a broader understanding. If before, the treatment was ang budget ng education was only allocated to DepEd. That was the wisdom at that time.)
Under the 1987 Constitution, the education sector must receive the “highest budgetary priority.” However, in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) got a whopping P1.03 trillion.
When compared with education entities that are typically classified under this cluster, the DPWH’s budget is higher.
The allotment is as follows: Department of Education (P782 billion), Commission on Higher Education (P34.88 billion), State Universities and Colleges (P127.23 billion), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (P20.98 billion). In total, the mentioned agencies received around P964.3 billion.
In the 2025 tally, the government also included the Local Government Academy, Philippine National Police Academy, Philippine Public Safety College, National Defense College of the Philippines, PMA, Philippine Science High School System, and the Science Education Institute.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the Constitution never specified that DepEd should get the highest budget cut.
“Education responsibility has been shifted to other government agencies,” Bersamin said in a Palace briefing on Tuesday.
“DepEd is not the only agency in the education sector, but it has the greater portion of the education pie, the budget for the education sector,” he added.
With the addition of the new agencies to the education cluster, the government can now claim to have allotted P1.05 trillion to education, slightly surpassing the DPWH.
However, the DPWH was supposed to receive a larger portion of the budget, with P1.11 trillion initially set aside for it. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. opted to veto several items under the DPWH, reallocating them to the education sector.
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