DepEd: Budget reenactment won’t affect education

MANILA, Philippines — Teachers and learners will be unaffected by the week-long reenactment of last year’s national budget beginning yesterday, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday.

Existing programs are funded under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), ensuring uninterrupted operations, DepEd chief media relations officer Dennis Legaspi said.

“Reenactment of the budget would only affect the rollout of new programs and the brief period will be used by the DepEd to finalize the necessary implementation guidelines,” he said.

Malacañang has begun a “thorough review” of the 2026 budget, ratified on Monday by Congress as the nation continues to reel from the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.

“It’s technically reenacted, but it has no significant effect since the first working day is Jan. 5, the target effectivity of the 2026 GAA,” Legaspi noted.

“Personnel service is not affected by reenactment as this is always funded. Only maintenance and other operating expense and capital outlay are affected, but since the 2026 GAA will be made effective on the first working day of the year, there is no real effect in the DepEd’s operations,” he added.

Congress has approved a P961.3-billion budget for the DepEd this year.

The national budget for the preceding year is automatically reenacted if a new appropriations law is not enacted.

After delays caused by disagreements over public works allocations, the bicameral conference committee last week finished deliberations on the spending bill.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara, meanwhile, said 2025 was a year of action in education.

“As we bid farewell to 2025, I express my sincere gratitude to teachers who serve tirelessly, to students who continue to dream and strive and to our education partners who have been partners in every reform,” Angara said yesterday.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), for its part, said the Oct. 27 to 30 wellness break approved by Angara was the most impactful gain secured by educators in 2025.

The group has been pushing for the health break since the administration of former education secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, TDC chair Benjo Basas said.