THINK OF THEM | The most critical reactions to the recently approved national budget continue to come from stakeholders in the education sector who worry for the future of students and teachers. Photo taken at San Francisco Elementary School, Quezon City, on Jan. 31, 2023. —File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE | Phillippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — The P6.326-trillion national budget continues to be criticized for its supposed lopsided funding priorities that sacrificed spending for long-term investments in education and the people’s health.

Effective immediately, Memorandum Order No. 40 seeks to protect the local poultry population and Filipino consumers from the effects of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

The private sector-led Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) said on Thursday it was concerned about the “growing” amount of discretionary funds in the government’s budget.

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Two former top officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a report published on Thursday that there were “worrisome elements” in the budget despite vetoes by President Marcos, who enacted the government spending program last Monday.

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Teachers’ groups also criticized the nominal increase in the budget for education, which is constitutionally mandated to receive the highest yearly appropriation, as spending for education was padded with allotments for nonbasic educational institutions, such as military and police academies.

“We remain concerned about the growing discretionary funds with its inherent nature — being less transparent, accountable, and prone to inefficiencies, duplication, and patronage — diverting vital resources from priority sectors such as education and health, which are central to inclusive growth and long-term resilience,” PBEd said in a statement.

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“Our people have always been our biggest asset; yet, we are still deep in the learning and nutrition crisis,” it said. “Our education system continues to face backlogs in teacher recruitment, classroom construction, and provision of learning materials, while our basic health services have suffered significant budget cuts.”

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The PBEd was founded in 2006 by some of the country’s top business leaders to advocate for greater alignment between education and economic growth. It is currently chaired by former Finance Secretary Ramon del Rosario Jr., the CEO of the Phinma Corp. conglomerate.

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In the veto message of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last Tuesday, the largest portion that suffered a “cut” — amounting to P168.24 billion — was for 15 items covered by unprogrammed appropriations. The president also slashed the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) budget by P26 billion.

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson dismissed the veto of the unprogrammed appropriations (UA) as unnecessary since no funds were allocated for them to begin with.

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“Vetoing line items under the UF (unappropriated funds) may be superfluous if not an overkill,” he said in a tweet on X.

Congress submitted the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) amounting to P5.352 trillion to Malacañang. The president’s veto removed only P26 billion in actual funding for the DPWH, resulting in the final budget of P6.326 trillion.

NY-based think tank

In a report they coauthored as analysts for the New York-based think tank, GlobalSource Partners, former BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo and former Assistant Governor Wilhelmina Mañalac, cited the deep cuts in the budget for social protection, notably the smaller outlay for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the government’s flagship antipoverty program, and the decline in the funding of the Department of Education (DepEd).

As a consequence, the 2025 budget may not succeed in delivering the “lofty” goals of the president this year — improving food security, education, and health, they said.

They also flagged the zero subsidy for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

These cuts were made while funds earmarked for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita Program (Akap) — the cash dole out for the “near poor” likened by some observers to pork barrel — had been kept, although subject to “conditional implementation.”

“A simple examination of the budget for next year shows not one but several areas of disconnect with the avowed social goals and commitments,” they said.

Share of services

A table and graph accompanying the GlobalSource report showed the major budget items that had increased or decreased, from 2023 to 2024 and from 2024 to 2025.

In terms of their share of the overall budget, social services received 36.7 percent more in 2024 but dropped by 33.4 percent in 2025; economic services got 30.8 percent more in 2024 but declined by 29.2 percent in 2025; defense rose 4.8 percent in 2024 and jumped to 6.6 percent in 2025; and debt burden rose 12.1 percent in 2024 and 13.8 percent in 2025.

The budget for general public services, which includes appropriations for the Senate and the House, rose 15.6 percent last year and increased by 17.1 percent this year.

Social services, economic services, and general public services get the biggest slices of the budget pie.

Funding legislators’ favorite projects should not come at the expense of the budget for key sectors, according to GlobalSource analysts.

“In maintaining the favorite items of legislators for public works projects, there can only be so much left to be allocated to education, health, and other key social amelioration projects, possibly even transgressing the Constitution and the laws of the land,” they said

Angara’s next step

DepEd is burdened with how to secure funds through mechanisms allowed under the law, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said on Thursday.

Angara said DepEd would be “exploring collaborative measures” with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Finance (DOF) to fund basic education programs, including replacement financing for DepEd’s computerization program.

But he said he was optimistic that funding gaps would be remedied through interagency cooperation.

Several stakeholders, however, remain critical of the 2025 education budget, saying it violated the Constitution.

PMA, PNPA included

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that the education sector now had the highest allocation in the 2025 budget with P1.055 trillion.

But the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) said the DBM included the budgets for the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), and the National Defense College of the Philippines, among other nonbasic educational institutions, to bloat the sector’s budget

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TDC chair Benjo Basas pointed out that the DPWH still had the single highest allocation of P1.034 trillion under the 2025 national budget. DepEd received P737 billion and the Commission on Higher Education got P33.31 billion

“If the government is sincere in fulfilling the mandate of the State, then it should have given the largest chunk of its resources to institutions of basic education and universities, ensuring that teachers in those levels are fulfilled and satisfied. But it did not,” Basas said. “It lumped all the agencies together to achieve the minimum requirement. It’s a token.”

READ: 2025 national budget ‘unlawful’ – Teachers’ Dignity Coalition

ACT chair Vladimer Quetua said the allocations to the education sector, specifically to DepEd, would not be enough to fund the needs of teachers, students, and even nonteaching personnel of the agency, as well as remedy the classroom shortage of 250,000.

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Quetua said it was unfair to include funding for the PMAmega dice, PNPA, and others just to make it appear that the education sector received the highest budget allocation in accordance with the Constitution.

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