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| Photo credit to Deposit photo |
Do you know anyone from your community or circle who has children, brothers, sisters or relatives with special needs? This also includes those with "special education (SPED)" support? Do you think the government should continue to allocate funds in order to alleviate the challenges and conditions of the families who have a child that requires special attention.
In July 2018, it was bared publily that children in the Philippines need better care following the study made by UNICEF quoting the PhilHealth that one out of seven Filipino children or 5.1 million school children have disabilities. As far as the enrolled students with disabilities for school year 2021-2022 DepEd registered 93, 895, which is 74% below its pre-pandemic tally of 360, 879.
Sadly, despite these numbers the national government has struck out from the 2023 national expenditure program being proposed at the House of Representatives (HOR) during the ongoing budget deliberations the P560 million as DepEd's appropriation for special children.
As a taxpayer I see this unfair knowing there are budget appropriations to the other government offices and agencies that are unnecessary, while those that should be appropriated to benefit the poor and marginalized sectors of the society were being robbed of the opportunity.
Imagine this government will be spending an X amount for a new catering area in Malacanang, and will allocate budget for "confidential and intelligence funds" of several if not all government agencies and departments in 2023, but slashed the funds for UP-PGH's capital outlay, Commission on Human Rights' financial assistance to victims of human rights, Philippine Heart Center (PHC), National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI), and no funding for the Department of Transportation's supposed shift to modern PUV as part of government's assistance to the transportation sector, as well as the DepEd's special education, are among those budgets were cut by the NEP.
I wonder what was the wisdom of the chief executive for allowing the budget cut to these items, as the beneficiaries of these proposed appropriations are mostly the marginalized communities.
Once again, I hope that the 31 million Filipinos who voted for the Marcos-Duterte tandem in the last May election will remain at the top priority of this administration. And I likewise pray that the authorities will exercise prudence as every cent spent by this government comes from the Filipinos hard earned money whether you are a pro BBM-Duterte or not.