MANILA, Philippines – The finance office of the Department of Education (DepEd) is not aware of how Vice President Sara Duterte spent the P112-million confidential funds of the agency under its 2023 budget.
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla said this in response to questions during the House committee on appropriations’ deliberations on the proposed 2025 DepEd budget on Monday, September 2.
“To answer po ‘yung question kung alam ba namin ‘yung details noong pinaggamitan, we do not know because we’re not part of the process po ng utilization and liquidation,” Sevilla said as she responded to Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel’s questions on how the DepEd utilized its confidential funds in 2023.
(To answer the question on whether we know the details of how it was used, we do not know because we are not part of the process of utilization and liquidation.)
“So, what I can share is, from the [DepEd’s] finance [unit], we have released three quarters. That’s P112.5 million. [And] it has been recorded as liquidated because we were given a copy of the cover letter only of the liquidation,” Sevilla said.
When Duterte led the agency, the DepEd obtained P150 million in confidential funds in 2023. When she requested the funds, she then said that this would be used for surveillance of “sexual grooming of learners, recruitment in terrorism and violent extremism, and drug use of DepEd personnel.”
Although her resignation from the DepEd took effect on July 19, Duterte was the subject of the budget deliberations on Monday’s House hearing, as lawmakers probed into how the department utilized its funds in previous years.
Duterte’s successor, Education Secretary Sonny Angara was at the House hearing to defend DepEd’s proposed budget of P793.1 billion for 2025.
Hontiveros calls for probe
In a statement on Tuesday, September 3, Senator Risa Hontiveros called for a Senate probe into how DepEd used the controversial funds during Duterte’s watch.
“This only confirms what many of us have feared — that the allocation of such a significant budget to an agency mandated for education, not conducting surveillance, was misguided from the start,” she said.
“We appeal to the Senate Select Committee on CIF, Programs, and Activities to look into this matter and for COA (Commission on Audit) to update us on the use of CIF,” Hontiveros said, adding that some DepEd officials cannot just wash their hands of the issue on the use of confidential funds.
“Kung hindi ito nagamit nang tama at wasto, mananagot din ang sinumang may partisipasyon sa paggamit nito (If these funds are not used correctly and appropriately, those who participated in their use will also be held accountable),” she added. – Rappler.com