THE failure of the Department of Education (DepEd) to utilize P2.08 billion or more than one-half of its 2023 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) funds amounts to criminal negligence as it exposes young Filipino learners and public school personnel at risk, House Assistant Majority Leaders Paolo Ortega and Jay Khonghun said Sunday.
Under the agency’s 2023 budget during the administration of Vice President Sara Duterte, Congress allocated P2.14 billion for Disaster Preparedness and Response Program (DPRP) and P2 billion for Quick Response Fund (QRF) or a total of P4.14 billion.
The said amount was in addition to P2.24 billion DRRM Funds still unused from prior years at the beginning of 2023.
Despite the availability of these huge amounts, Ortega and Khonghun said the DepEd failed to ensure that proper facilities and equipment are in place in government schools to mitigate the impact of disasters and reduce risks to the health and lives of students, teachers and school support staff.
“In Mindanao, there are hundreds of learners in public elementary schools who had no choice but to attend classes in school buildings that were already weakened and rendered unsafe by a recent Magnitude 6 earthquake. Millions in taxpayers money was already spent on Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS) but these were not put to good use,” Ortega said.
The COA report said in Region 11, under the Schools Division Office (SDO) of the Island Garden City of Samal, cracks were found in classrooms and school buildings that were still being used. The report identified the Libertad, Guilon and Cogon elementary schools.
In San Jose National High School still in the same SDO, the TLS could not be used because the electricity was not transferred so that despite the present hazard, students went back to using the old building.
“The students cannot use the newly-built TLS because the equipment being used for their classes were not moved. Teachers were understandably worried the televisions, projectors and other equipment would be lost. These are basic stuff that should have been anticipated and properly addressed,” said Khonghun.
The DepEd Department Order No. 024, series of 2021, states that TLS were built to minimize interruptions of classes in the event of disasters or emergencies while providing safe learning facilities.
Auditors warned that poor planning and improper handling of funds to complete the TLS have left the students little option but to use classrooms that are already unsafe and “may result in additional casualties if another high-magnitude earthquake occurs.”
Out of the P2,138,322,997.59, the DepEd Central Office transferred P2 billion to various regional offices while it retained the balance of more than P138 million.
According to the 2023 report on DepEd released by the Commission on Audit (COA), DepEd regional offices in Central Luzon (RO 3), Eastern Visayas (RO 8), and Caraga (RO 13) reported unutilized amounts from the DRRM funds.
Likewise, DepEd RO 8 failed to comply with the required distribution of DRRM fund of 70 percent for disaster preparedness and 30 percent for QRF.
“The problem is the Central Office was too slow in submitting the guidelines on the authority and approval of the downloaded funds. This creates the impression that no proper monitoring was undertaken to safeguard the DTTM Funds,” said Ortega.
This weak management by the DepEd under Duterte caused deterioration in fiscal discipline down the line as auditors found numerous irregularities in the utilization of disaster funds.
Among the documented anomalies were improper spending of DRRM for travel, accommodation and seminars by SDO officials, shoddy workmanship on school buildings and support facilities, program of work on school structures were ignored, and falsified reports on work accomplishments and progress billings.
“The sheer absence of concern regarding the welfare of our young learners hints at an appalling level of incompetence by the person in charge. That so much resources were either unused or misused is simply disgraceful, but the fact that it is the public school students who were victimized is nothing short of criminal,” Khonghun said.
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