A deputy minority leader on Sunday opposed a Senate proposal creating a Department of Culture that would cost at least P2 billion yearly.
In a statement, Deputy Minority Leader José L. Atienza Jr. of Buhay Partylist said what the government needs is a “simple and practical reorganization” of the Department Education (DepEd) into the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
“We don’t really need another large and expensive bureaucracy such as a Department of Culture because we already have the National Commission for Culture and the Arts,” Atienza, former three-term mayor of Manila, said. “What we absolutely need now is the immediate reintegration of culture and sports back into our public-school system.”
Sen. Francis Joseph G. Escudero ’s proposed Department of Culture Act is up for plenary approval at the Senate, where he is chairman of the Committee on Education, Arts and Culture.
“Nobody really knows what they are up to. They may possibly be interested in the future position of Secretary of Culture,” Atienza said.
Escudero’s Senate Bill 1528 seeks an initial appropriation of P2 billion for the new department on its first full year of operation alone.
The senator’s mother, Sorsogon Rep. Evelina Escudero, is pushing for acounterpart bill in the House.
Atienza said his House Bill 2628 merely seeks to rectify the blunder committed by Congress when it passed the Governance of Basic Education Act in 2001.
“Our proposal is far less bureaucratic and won’t cost taxpayers extra money, because we will just be restoring two bureaus under the DepEd—one for culture and one for sports,” Atienza said. “And these bureaus may be run by existing DepEd officials.”
That law reorganized the previous DECS into what is now the DepEd and effectively disconnected culture and sports from the school system, according to Atienza.
“Once we have the DECS back, we should be able to properly guide the youth toward conserving our rich history and heritage, promoting arts and culture, strengthening their minds and bodies, and molding them into leaders and custodians of our nation’s future,” Atienza said.