Senator Pia S. Cayetano's Opening Statement Senate Finance Subcommittee "D" Budget Hearing (DepEd & other attached agencies)

Welcome to the Subcommittee of the Committee on Finance. In the agenda today is the proposed budget under the fiscal year 2021 of the NEP for the Department of Education with a total new appropriation of P568,013,018,000.

Included in this hearing are attached agencies: NBDC (National Book Development Board) with P46,096,000; National Council for Children's Television, P17,076,000; National Museum of the Philippines, P432,442,000; Philippine High School for the Arts, P92,186,000; and the Early Childhood Care and Development Council with P59,041,000.

We are deliberating these specific agencies' budget amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that has highlighted the need for us to innovate as we deliver quality education. Our goal is to build back better, be strategic in our investments to ensure that our students will not only survive, but will thrive in the 21st century.

So, the order of presentation will be as follows: ECCDC, followed by DepEd and all the other attached agencies. I have chosen to make the ECCDC present first because in the hierarchy of how a child goes to school, it starts with preschool. So let's start that way and then studies show that these are the very important years, 0-7. So [inaudible] presentation napakaliit ng budget [inaudible] I wanted all of us to still have a lot of energy...

Habang mataas pa ang energy, I want us all to be able to listen to the ECCDC. Birthday kahapon ng the late Senator Angara, and I know that was his brainchild. But I say that not just to honor this man, but because it's so important. A lot of investments in a child's education must start in early childhood. And that's why we will strat there and then go to DepEd and then the rest.