SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III on Saturday questioned the massive increase on the allocation for the Department of Education’s voucher program.

Pimentel also asked assurance from the DepEd the cash grants will go to the intended beneficiaries of the program.

“This voucher program being administered by the Department of Education has ballooned exponentially to a tune of P39.326 billion under the 2023 National Expenditures Program from only P16.534 billion this year,” Pimentel said.

“Why did it increase more than double? What is the guarantee that the budget will go to its intended beneficiaries?” Pimentel asked.

Pimentel noted the budget for the voucher program for private senior high school was only P13.692 billion in 2021, P23.93 billion in 2020, and P18.756 billion in 2019.

Pimentel said DepEd’s SHS Voucher Program is among the items in the budget that got the biggest increase.

“I am not saying that I am against it or it is anomalous. But I wanted to be clarified because this is such a huge increase that should not skip scrutiny. We are entrusted with the job of being the Senate’s chief fiscalizer and it will be a huge disservice to the Filipino people if we do not bring this to the attention of the agency involved,” Pimentel stressed.

The senator also noted in the 2021 Commission on Audit report, the SHS voucher program benefited 1,107,083 students, which is below the DepEd’s target of 1,417,613.

Despite the huge increase, Pimentel noticed the target beneficiaries for 2023 will even decrease to 1.132 million from 1.383 million this year.

Pimentel also asked DepEd’s explanation on a very expensive subscription expense in its budget amounting P2.563 billion for 2023 from only P24.68 million in 2022 and P26 million in 2021, respectively.

“This is yet another huge increase that should be explained by DepEd,” Pimentel said.

Under the proposed P5.268 trillion spending outlay for 2023, DepEd is to receive P709 billion.