VP Sara accuses House leaders of meddling with DepEd classroom budget

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has accused House Speaker Martin Romualdez and the chairperson of the powerful House appropriations committee of manipulating the Department of Education's budget for classroom construction over the past two years.

In a video interview released by the Office of the Vice President on Tuesday, September 10, Duterte said the House of Representatives inflated DepEd's budget for classroom construction beyond its requested sum in 2023 and 2024. This, she claimed, allowed Romualdez and Rep. Elizaldy Co (Ako Bicol) to control billions in additional funds.  

The OVP sent Duterte's video to reporters on the same day the lower chamber resumed its deliberations on the OVP's proposed 2025 budget. 

Unlike the previous hearing on August 27, where the vice president had heated exchanges with lawmakers, Duterte did not face the appropriations panel this time, saying in a letter that she "[defers] entirely to the discretion and judgment" of the committee on the OVP's proposed budget. 

In the nine-minute video — a continuation of another video the OVP sent on Monday — Duterte detailed her concerns about the alleged irregular insertions in the budget of DepEd, which she led before her resignation on July 19.

Duterte recalled being approached by House members who asked for a portion of DepEd's proposed P5 billion outlay for classroom construction in the 2023 budget.

"I was taken aback when they asked, 'How much of that is ours? How much do we get?'" Duterte said in mixed English and Filipino. 

Duterte said she refused the lawmakers' requests to give DepEd a free hand to construct new classrooms based on its backlog. 

"So, sinabihan ko ‘yung isang congressman, 'Sabihan ninyo si Martin Romualdez na hindi pwedeng chop-chopin ang classroom construction na 5 billion' (I instructed one congressman, 'Tell Martin Romualdez that we cannot allow the P5 billion for classroom construction to be split up')," the vice president said.

Because she did not agree to the lawmakers' demands, Duterte alleged that DepEd's proposed P5 billion funds for classrooms were bumped up to P15 billion, with the additional P10 billion being placed under the