Teachers group scores DepEd over wasted funds

MANILA, Philippines — Militant teachers groups on Saturday demanded that the officials responsible for the wastage of P1 billion in Department of Education (DepEd) funds last year be punished. In a statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said Malacanang should already take action on the “erring" education officials based on the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA). “Because they did not follow strictly the guidelines, more than P900 million in the Deped’s 2007 budget had been wasted. The allocations have not reached those who really need textbooks, classrooms, computers and rice," ACT said in a statement. Likewise, the group pointed that the “mismanagement" in the DepEd only added burden to the worsening education in the country. On the other hand, the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) chided DepEd officials for wasting the much-needed budget at the expense of education and to the prejudice of students and the country’s youth interest. They cited Baesa High School in Caloocan City that is badly lacking on facilities such as classrooms, toilet, among others. “It is simply unfair that a huge amount intended for the school and the students are wasted." the TDC said. “As we condemn the wasting of billions in DepEd funds, we call on Congress to allocate sufficient budget so as not to prejudice the interest of public education system," the TDC added. The TDC disclosed that some 5,000 teachers are expected to troop to Batasan on Monday for the grand lobby for the immediate passage of the proposed P9,000 salary increase for public school teachers. The teachers will converge at 3 pm in front of Batasan High School before proceeding to Congress. ‘This only proves that investment to teachers should not be left behind by expenses to facilities and technology." the TDC said. The group vowed to press for immediate enactment of the proposed law for teachers' salary increase. Earlier the Congressional Planning and Budget Department (CPBD), citing the 2007 COA audit report, said millions in DepED's budget for last year were wasted either through non-utilization, misallocation or purchase of inferior equipment. "Information and multi-media equipment packages amounting to no less than P667.95 million were neither utilized nor maximized for classroom instructions in 13 regions because they were either defective or distributed to schools which were not strictly selected in accordance with the approved criteria, resulting in the wasteful storage or utilization of the units," the CPBD report stated. The DepEd acknowledged the COA report and said it is in close coordination with the agency since March regarding the report for proper disposition. The DepEd also claimed that various measures had already been implemented designed to address the COA concerns including the suspension of the purchase of multi-media equipment until the new computerization guidelines are in place. “We are grateful to COA for providing us the opportunity to address these concerns on the utilization of resources. We at the DepEd feel that by addressing these challenges we can further improve the implementation of our 'Education for All' thrust," the DepEd said in a statement. - GMANews.TV