President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to restore P10 billion slashed from the proposed budget of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Education Secretary Sonny Angara earlier expressed dismay over the total P12 billion reduction in the DepEd's 2025 budget, saying that P10 billion out of this amount was intended for the agency's computerization program.

"I think it is contrary to all our policy direction when we talk about the STEM development of our educational sector and then the continuing development," Marcos Jr. said in an interview with Palace reporters.

"So we're working on it to make sure that we will restore it," he added.

The chief executive added that he did not want to veto any line item because it "just gets in the way." But he vowed to find a way to restore the slashed budget.

"Hindi pa buo ang sagot ko pero sasabihin ko na sa inyo, tinatrabaho namin 'yan. At kailangan na kailangan. P12 billion request, the original request of the P12 billion to be reduced down to two. P12 billion is only sufficient to maintain what we're already doing when in fact we have to do more," he said.

When asked how he would restore the DepEd budget cut without vetoing budget line items, Marcos said he would discuss it with lawmakers.

"No, let's leave it to them. I don't want to have that discussion here. We'll have that discussion with the bicam essentially and the leaders of both houses," Marcos Jr. said.

The president said he would sign the budget before Christmas.

Meanwhile, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri urged Marcos to restore part of the budget cut. 

Zubiri noted the education sector suffered a reduction of almost P12 billion for the Department of Education (DepEd) and P30 billion for state universities and colleges (SUCs).

“Napakalaki ng cut, almost 42B on the education sector. So sana po ma-remedy pa po ni Presidente yun. May veto powers po siya,” Zubiri said on Monday.

According to Zubiri, education should receive the highest budget under Article 5 of the 1987 Constitution, which is why a violation might have “possibly” occurred.

“Nakikita ko po ang frustration ni Secretary Angara and I fully support his frustration,” Zubiri told reporters.

He said he would have abstained or not voted in favor of the budget if he knew of the budget cuts on education.

Asked whether the bicam was transparent, Zubiri answered by shaking his head.

“I don't want to impute any malice, pero sila nga lang ang tanungin niyo. Pero 'yun na, I'm just stating the fact,” he said.

According to Zubiri, he was not informed about the developments although he was the chairperson of one of the subcommittees. He said he was worried that the latest bicam proceedings could set a “very bad precedent” since the amendments of the Senate were disregarded, a first in the last 21 budgets that he participated in.

“The Senate is also the last bastion, not only of democracy, but it's also the last bastion of institutional amendments. Lahat ng departments pumupunta sa Senado dahil hindi po na nakukuha sa Kongreso ang kailangan nilang dagdag na pondo,” he said. “Ito siguro ang nakita ko na napakakaunti ng institutional amendments na ginawa ng Senado for the different departments.”

Zubiri refused to comment if the Senate leadership had a hand in the change.

“That's why ako it'll be my first and my last sponsorship of a subcommittee on finance. Parang ayoko na eh kasi kung ganun lang naman. Para que 'di ba?”