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