VP told: Education chief must be a teacher, not a soldier

A VETERAN congressman on Thursday put Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio to task for calling critics of her multimillion-peso confidential funds enemies of the state, saying these have no place in schools.

“Schools are temples of knowledge not arenas of surveillance,” Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman said in a statement. “The secretary of Education must be a teacher, not a centurion.”

Ms. Carpio on Wednesday said people who oppose confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President and Education department, which she heads, are “naturally assumed to have insidious motivations.”

“Whether it is combating terrorism, tackling organized crime or safeguarding the integrity of our nation, these funds enable our law enforcement agencies and intelligence bodies to protect our citizens effectively,” she told policemen in Butuan City in southern Philippines.

She also tied peace and order with education. “They are the cornerstones upon which a prosperous society is built.”

“Remember — anyone who opposes confidential funds opposes peace,” she said in Filipino. “Whoever opposes peace is an enemy of the nation.”

“This is a very unfortunate statement,” University of the Philippines political science professor Maria Ela L. Atienza said in a Viber message. “By saying this, it appears that she does not honor her job as a public servant who is accountable to the people.”

The Vice President also should avoid “simplistic statements” about peace and order, she said. “She is both VP and DepEd secretary. Her mandate is not directly related to peace and order.”

Meanwhile, youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan urged Congress to transfer confidential and intelligence funds to public services such as education and wages from military and security agencies.

Group coordinator John Samuel B. Lazaro in a statement said the P2.95 billion in confidential and intelligence funds should be diverted to “crises that matter to Filipinos in their everyday lives.”

“Even a portion of the billions in confidential and intelligence funds that our legislators want to send the military’s way would do wonders for the derelict, crumbling education system, which continues to make the youth and students suffer to this day,” he added.

“We neither need nor want a national budget where billions are kept hidden from the public,” the group separately said in a letter to lawmakers. “Congress must exercise its power of the purse to ensure that the wealth of the Filipino people is fully utilized to secure their well-being and not to satisfy the whims of any incumbent administration.”

Congressmen earlier committed to realign the combined P650-million confidential and intelligence funds of Ms. Carpio and the Department of Education to intelligence and security offices amid worsening tensions with China.

Also on Thursday, senators said the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) proposed P50 million in confidential funds should be transferred to the Philippine Coast Guard or use it to develop its rice programs.

“The DA won’t need these confidential funds if we’re talking about the government’s anti-smuggling programs since we have the Bureau of Customs and law enforcement agencies,” Senator Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo told a hearing on the agency’s 2024 budget. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza and John Victor D. Ordoñez