Angara: Up to COA to determine if budget was mishandled

Former Senate Finance Committee Chairman and now Education Secretary Sonny Angara said on Tuesday that it would be up to the Commission on Audit if the 2024 national budget was mishandled.

At a Palace press briefing, Angara was asked to comment on Vice  President Sara Duterte's allegation that the 2024 budget was mishandled. Angara replaced Duterte as the Department of  Education Secretary when the latter resigned in June.

''Well, makikita  natin sa mga COA reports iyan (We will see that in the COA reports). It’s the COA who really knows if there was mishandling. So pagharap namin sa  Kongreso, usually ang mga tinatanong sa amin, sa House of  Representatives, sa Senado, tinatanong iyong mga COA reports (When we face Congress, usually the questions are about COA reports),'' Angara said.

''Those are the reports that will indicate if there has been any mishandling or not,'' he added.

Angara also emphasized that President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos  Jr. was trying to address concerns in the education sector.

''Ang  bilis nga niyang mag-decide dito sa Cabinet cluster at nandodoon talaga  iyong urgency at very specific iyong kaniyang recommendations,'' Angara  said.

(He decides quickly during Cabinet cluster meetings, there's urgency and his recommendations are very specific.)

The Vice President earlier said that among the reasons why she quit as DepEd chief was over how the national budget was being handled.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said the DepEd's budget for fiscal year 2024 was increased to fund the MATATAG K-10 curriculum launched by Duterte. — DVM, GMA Integrated News