THE House committee on appropriations chaired by Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co has terminated the briefing on the 2023 proposed budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) during Friday’s hybrid meeting.

House committee on appropriations vice chairman and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin led the briefing on the CHED proposed P30.734 billion budget.

“This reflects a 6.09 percent decrease from the previous year’s appropriation of P32.751 billion,” Garin pointed out.

Of the proposed amount, Garin said 97.3 percent or P29.9 billion would be sourced from new appropriations, while the remaining 7.2 percent or P841.7 million from automatic appropriations.

By expense class, most the Commission’s proposed funding would go to Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) at P30.2 billion and the rest will go to Personnel Services.

“In times such as the one we are currently in, the education sector stands to be one the most important in our society. Tasked with nurturing and forming the minds of our youth, this sector has a big role to play in charting out the future of our country,” Garin said in her opening remarks.

In spite of the milestones reached by the CHED over the past few years, Garin multiple decreases of funding have been observed.

With all the challenges, Garin said the agency needs the support of Congress to craft a budget responsive to the current times, one that can adequately support the needs of schools and students.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Ryan Ponce Pacpaco