The over P12 billion set aside for the Department of Education (DepEd) school-based feeding program will still be the highest-ever allocation, despite P50 million being removed from it for 2026, House of Representatives lawmakers said on Wednesday.
During the hearing of the Budget Amendments Review Sub-committee (BARSc), appropriations chairperson and Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing informed members of the panel that the proposed P1.88 billion increment to the school-based feeding program has been changed to P1.83 billion.
The P50 million cut, Suansing said, would go to the Palarong Pambansa – which means that the proposed allocation will still be under the DepEd budget.
‘For the school-based feeding program, you can see that there’s a little bit of a reduction, but only because we needed to carve out – upon the request of DepEd – we needed to carve out an additional amount for the Palarong Pambansa,’ Suansing said.
‘Because if we will not give additional funding for Palarong Pambansa, what will happen is that delegates from Luzon will travel by sea. And as said by Secretary Angara, that kind of has a problem in terms of the equity because students are already tired by the time that they get to the venue for Palarong Pambansa,’ she explained.
FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list Rep. Brian Poe, meanwhile, said the school-based feeding program is still enough to address the needs of Filipino students.
‘I just want to clarify also for our fellow Filipinos online who are watching – that the school-based feeding program amendment is still the largest school-based feeding program amendment we’ve had at P1.8 billion increase, in recent Congresses,’ Poe said.
‘And the change was only P50 million, which was reallocated still within DepEd,’ he added.
Suansing, for her part, thanked Poe for the clarification, noting that the current allocation for the school-based feeding program is the largest ever.
‘So for the school-based feeding program, there is already an allocation of P11 billion within DepEd, and again, with the additional P1.83 billion that we’re adding, that is the highest-ever budget for the school-based feeding program, ever in history,’ she repeated.
‘So definitely, we did not take out anything from education. We just reallocated this to be able to fund the P50 million, so in general, the realignments increased,’ she added.
Other education amendments
Suansing also said that there are other amendments to the education budget, including the increase of the proposed budget under the Basic Education Facilities (BEF), from P22.5 billion to P35 billion.
The BEF includes allocation for the construction, completion, and rehabilitation of classrooms, and the provision of furniture.
‘We have found the fiscal space to add more to the basic education facilities program, towards the new construction, completion, and rehabilitation of classrooms,’ Suasing said.
‘So, if before what the BARSc approved is P22.5 billion, we are able to find the space to increase that to P35 billion. So that’s an additional P13 billion towards the creation of classrooms,’ the lawmaker said.
‘So just to clarify, that’s in addition to what’s already there in the NEP for the BEF. So there is currently P28 billion in the NEP (National Expenditures Program) for BEF. So if we add the P35 billion, that will be P63 billion in total for classrooms,’ she noted.
Last September 23, during the BARSc’s first hearing, the panel proposed to transfer P37.3 billion of the P255.5 billion budget cut suffered by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to the education sector.
A huge chunk of the changes was for DepEd’s Basic Education Facilities (BEF), as the BARSc’s current proposal will place P22.5 billion for the construction of new classrooms, and the provision of school equipment.
The proposed amendments will be just an addition to what has been allocated under the NEP.
Suansing said the P63 billion would allow the government to build around 25,000 classrooms for 2026.
‘So with the new proposal for the BEF amounting to P63 billion, we will now be able to create more or less this, because it’s spread across construction, completion, rehabilitation, and fixtures. We’ll roughly be able to build 25,000 classrooms in 2026,’ she said.
‘In addition to that, in addition to the NEP amount, we are also proposing to add P414 million towards the computerization program of DepEd, and an additional P50 million towards the procurement of textbooks and learning materials,’ she added.
Several proposed amendments to the budget have been geared at enhancing allocations to the education sector, in accordance with the 2026 NEP’s theme.
Last September 26, Suansing also announced that there will be a special provision in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) ensuring that the P12.3 billion deficit brought by the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTEA) will be addressed.
According to Suansing, the provision will compel the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to release P7.8 billion for the UAQTEA deficits, while the remaining P4.4 billion will be appropriated by the House as part of its GAB.
Suansing also told state universities and colleges that the funding of the UAQTEA deficit will come on top of programs that the House committee on appropriations has allocated to CHEd programs like the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and the Tulong Dunong Program.
The BARSc also previously hiked allocation for TES and the Tulong Dunong Program, leading to an additional P6.6 billion and P2.6 billion. /apl