The House of Representatives concluded plenary deliberations on the proposed ₱975.96-billion budget of the Department of Education (DepEd), the largest allocation for any government agency under the proposed 2027 national budget.
The period of interpellation and debate was terminated in under two hours, making it among the fastest plenary deliberations on the DepEd budget in recent years.
House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairperson and Davao de Oro Representative Maria Carmen Zamora said the proposed allocation reflects the shared commitment of the House and the administration to sustain investments in Filipino learners, teachers and schools.
Zamora pointed to the Philippines’ improved performance in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), where the country was among eight participating education systems that registered significant gains across all three assessed areas.
“These are the results of the reforms this House has funded in recent years and of the hard work of our teachers and learners.”
“These are the results of the reforms this House has funded in recent years and of the hard work of our teachers and learners. But they are a starting point, not a finish line,” the veteran legislator said.
Under the proposed ₱975.96-billion DepEd budget, ₱11.4 billion is allocated for the School-Based Feeding Program to help address malnutrition by providing nutritious meals to learners.
Another ₱38.12 billion is earmarked for government assistance and subsidies to expand students’ access to quality basic education through public and private education providers, while ₱12.09 billion is proposed for the expanded career progression program to facilitate the promotion of qualified teachers.
“The gains we have made will only be sustained if we continue to invest in the learners, the teachers and the classrooms that produce them.”
“The gains we have made will only be sustained if we continue to invest in the learners, the teachers and the classrooms that produce them,” the lady lawmaker added.
She stressed that sustained investment in education directly translates into better learning conditions and greater opportunities for more than 25 million Filipino learners nationwide.
“Every peso that we appropriate to this department translates into classrooms built, teachers hired and trained, learning materials produced and, most importantly, opportunities given to more than 25 million Filipino learners across the country,” Zamora concluded.
