Manila: The Departments of Education (DepEd) and Budget and Management (DBM) have dismissed claims that no funds are allocated for hiring teachers next year. They clarified that the proposed 2027 national budget includes P31.22 billion designated for hiring 64,530 public school teachers.
According to Philippines News Agency, in a joint statement, DepEd and DBM emphasized that the proposed 2027 budget does not feature a new batch of Teacher I positions, as numerous authorized teaching positions remain vacant. The 64,530 positions include 31,614 existing vacancies recorded as of April 24, 2026, and 32,916 newly created and approved positions by DBM in May.
The agencies highlighted that these authorized positions remain available for DepEd to fill as qualified applicants are hired, and they do not expire simply because they are not filled within the year they were created. Education Secretary Sonny Angara assured teachers and applicants that government hiring would continue, emphasizing the urgency to deploy qualified teachers to where they are needed most.
As of September 4, DepEd filled 33,250 teaching positions, leaving 25,019 unfilled. Of the positions created in 2026, 22,649 were filled, while 8,733 remained vacant. Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon clarified that the absence of new Teacher I items in the proposed 2027 budget should not be misconstrued as a hiring freeze, indicating that there are still many unfilled vacant teaching positions.
The clarification came after reports suggested that DepEd's request for 14,274 additional teaching positions, worth an estimated PHP4.29 billion, was not included in the proposed 2027 budget. DepEd and DBM explained that those positions are part of a separate proposed batch and are not included in the 64,530 authorized posts already funded for filling.
The proposed budget also includes PHP7.582 billion for substitute teachers, ensuring classrooms are staffed when regular teachers are temporarily unavailable. Additionally, the government has released PHP8.68 billion in salary differentials for personnel covered by the Expanded Career Progression System, with another PHP12.09 billion proposed for 2027.
The budget earmarks PHP10.364 billion for the PHP10,000 Teaching Allowance and PHP38.782 billion for teacher benefits under the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers. Furthermore, PHP840.589 million is proposed for 2,135 non-teaching positions to alleviate teachers' administrative workload, while PHP801.583 million is allocated for 2,021 school counseling positions.
