📷ACT Teachers Partylist | Facebook
House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro and former ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio today denounced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s veto message on the 2025 national budget as a deceptive maneuver to create an illusion of constitutional compliance while maintaining cuts to education.
“This veto message is pure deception. Ang pagveto ng P194 billion sa DPWH projects ay panlilinlang lamang para magmukhang constitutional ang budget dahil mas malaki raw ang education sector. Pero ang katotohanan, hindi naman maibabalik ang mga binawas sa edukasyon,” Castro said.
Tinio emphasized that the vetoed items were strategically chosen to maintain an appearance of education prioritization while keeping massive funding for infrastructure and military projects intact.
“Ito’y malaking pagbabalatkayo. The administration is trying to fool the public by vetoing certain DPWH projects while keeping the deep cuts to essential education programs. Hindi mababago ng veto na ito ang anti-education at anti-poor character ng 2025 budget,” Tinio explained.
Castro pointed out that the education budget remains severely inadequate despite the vetoes. “The education budget should have been set at 6% of GDP from the start to meet UN standards. Instead, binawasan pa ito ng Kongreso, at hindi na ito maibabalik kahit anong veto pa ang gawin ni Marcos.”
“This budget and these vetoes reveal the administration’s true priorities – maintaining huge allocations for infrastructure and military spending while shortchanging education. Pakitang tao lang ang pagveto sa DPWH projects kung hindi naman maibabalik ang mga kinaltas sa edukasyon,” Tinio added.
“We call on the public to see through this deception. Huwag tayong magpapaloko sa ganitong style ng administrasyon. What our education sector needs is genuine prioritization, not political theatrics,” Castro concluded.#
