DepEd must address underspending - Gatchalian

Senators who want to channel billions of pesos from flood control projects to education want the Department of Education (DepEd) to address its underspending problem, stressing that it may not be ready to absorb such a massive infusion of funds while it continues to sit on tens of billions pesos in its current budget.

- NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

Finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian flagged DepEd’s failure to spend P57 billion in its budget last year, even as the country faces a 157,815-classroom shortage and needs P132 billion for repairs on existing school buildings. The unspent P57 billion is the highest in recent years.

He said the under-utilization raises doubts on DepEd’s capability to handle more money should Congress realign flood control allocations to classrooms.

“Here in the Senate, most senators agree that we can divert those amounts to education. If you were to ask me, they should also go to education. But the absorptive capacity becomes an issue,” Gatchalian said at yesterday’s hearing on DepEd’s budget.