ILOILO Rep. Janette Garin raised concerns on Department of Education’s budget performance for school furniture and learning tools in science, math and technical-vocational equipment.

The budget for learning tools and equipment was P2.8 billion for 2023 and P3.9 billion for 2024, with P2.7 billion allocated for both 2021 and 2022.

For school furniture, the budget was P1.8 billion in 2021, P1.1 billion in 2022, P1.8 billion in 2023, and is projected at P2.4 billion for 2024.

DepEd Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III explained that these items are distributed based on yearly construction allocations, with delivery from procurement to end-users taking 120 calendar days.

Garin also questioned changes in DepEd’s process for delivering learning materials, suggesting it created a system with unclear accountability.

This was after DepEd Undersecretary Omar Romero stated that in 2021, the agency contracted a central logistics company to streamline deliveries, but this proved inefficient as the company struggled with collecting and delivering goods.

DepEd has since reverted to the bundled mode, where suppliers deliver directly to schools.

Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said that the centralized delivery system was initially proposed to address logistical challenges exacerbated by Covid19.

Garin lamented DepEd’s track record for distributing school supplies so that more students could utilize the materials during that year.

“Because when we allocate budget, the President, the members of Congress, even the DepEd officials and the executive, ang tapang-tapang natin mag-announce — ‘Andiyan ang ating mga school furnitures. We have textbooks, ready ang mga kailangan niyo,’ — pero ang totoo, we cannot walk the talk because somewhere along the way there is a problem and nobody seems to really push for a solution,” Garin stressed.