Senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte expressed deep frustration on Wednesday, Aug. 5, over the Commission on Audit’s (COA) failure to go beyond the liquidation documents it reviewed regarding the alleged misused multimillion-peso confidential funds. Roderick Wamil, a former state auditor of the COA’s Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Unit (Icfau),...
Tag: DepEd
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Duterte’s office failed to back ₱125M in secret funds, says state auditor
Vice President Sara Duterte’s office failed to submit the required documents to the Commission on Audit (COA) on its use of ₱125 million in confidential funds, which was spent in 11 days in 2022, a COA auditor told the Senate impeachment trial on Monday, Aug. 3. It even spent ₱50 million, which was not allowed...
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Ex-bank managers say large OVP, DepEd cash withdrawals ‘unusual’
Two former LandBank branch managers found “unusual” the million-peso cash withdrawals by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) between 2022 and 2023 because of the large amounts involved. They said it was the first time they had ever seen these transactions in their banking careers. One of them, Violeta...
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When will teachers become involved in policymaking?
The Department of Education (DepEd) has announced the shift to a three-term school calendar starting on June 8, 2026, and ending on April 8, 2027. DepEd has defended the abrupt shift to a trimester school year as strategic, saying it is aimed at optimizing the contact time between students and teachers. But many have pointed...
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House justice committee votes to summon Vice President’s documents
The House of Representatives’ committee on justice voted on Wednesday to summon witnesses and documents it deemed necessary to determine “probable cause” to bring Vice President Sara Duterte to trial at the Senate impeachment court. Among the documents are the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in its probe into Duterte’s threat in...
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AI use is growing faster than Southeast Asia can keep pace with
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) across Southeast Asia is accelerating faster than governments, schools, and institutions can keep pace with, with 75% of students using AI in the Philippines, according to studies released by the Asean Foundation. “Across Asean, we are seeing AI use grow faster than our systems’ ability to guide it,” said Asean...
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Asking the question we’d rather avoid
The traditional newsroom is under siege, and the invaders aren’t just algorithms—they are individuals with smartphones and opinions. According to the latest insights from the Reuters Institute, 2026 marks a tipping point where generative AI and human “influencers” are squeezing traditional media institutions into a corner of perceived irrelevance. We are moving away from the...
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Filipino students’ functional illiteracy is a ‘real and widespread learning crisis’
A stone’s throw from the House of Representatives’ sprawling complex in Quezon City is a congested public elementary school literally crawling with thousands of students, including a great number struggling with their ABC. When he took over as principal at the President Corazon C. Aquino Elementary School in 2024, Gerry Isip made a startling discovery:...
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Teachers’ lament: Gov’t’s ‘low appraisal’ is evident in their pay
The purchase by the Department of Education (DepEd) of pricey cameras has triggered a backlash from teachers grown hoarse from demanding a pay upgrade and increase. “If they have a budget for overpriced cameras and laptops, how come they don’t have a budget for our pay increase?” said Erlinda Alfonso, a teacher at the San...