ACCOUNTABILITY must be demanded from the Department of Education (DepEd) for its “imprudent utilization of education funds,” based on the recently released report of the Commission on Audit (COA) that found various irregularities in the agency’s fund management.
For every peso that DepEd expends irresponsibly, there are students and teachers who bear the brunt of this imprudence. This is plainly unacceptable.
News reports cited COA findings that the education agency has P13.9 billion of expenses that were illegal or lacked adequate documentation; P15.4 billion unused allotment for unimplemented projects; P2.7 billion unliquidated cash advances; P254 million worth of questionable textbook contracts, P113.7 million worth of undistributed books; and P1.25 million payment of voucher to “ghost” beneficiaries.
It’s like rubbing salt to injury. Every day teachers scrimp on their meager salaries to fill in the various shortages in schools only to find out that such scandalous amounts of public education funds were being wasted. This DepEd misspending brings bitterness among teachers. Remember how Secretary Leonor Briones lectured them about financial literacy when they clamored for salary increase?
Teachers have always been told that there are not enough funds — for classrooms, for books, for materials, for pay hike —and that they have to be forbearing and resourceful. The COA report now shows the hypocrisy in DepEd.
In general, COA’s string of reports of irregularities in fund use of many government agencies such as the Department of Health, PhilHealth, Government Service Insurance System and others only show that the government has the resources to grant substantial pay hike and improve the delivery of basic services to the people.
With the lengthy talk of President Duterte in his last SONA against corruption, the challenge is on him to correct the prioritizations of his administration and cleanse the bureaucracy. This is the only way he can deliver on his tired promise of substantial salary increase to government workers and uplift the lives of the people.
