MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the key programs of Vice President Sara Duterte for the Department of Education (DepEd), which she concurrently heads as secretary, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Friday, April 26.

These programs are the proposed Basic Education Development Plan (BEDP) 2030 and the DepEd’s MATATAG agenda.

The PCO said Duterte presented the DepEd programs during Marcos’ meeting with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board in Malacañang on Thursday, April 25.

“President Marcos did not raise any objection as he emphasized that the NEDA Board approved them  ‘as a national policy and plan for basic education in the Philippines,'” the PCO press release read.

The BEDP 2030, launched in 2022 under then-DepEd chief Leonor Briones, is a strategic roadmap aimed at improving the quality of basic education.

The DepEd, meanwhile, first introduced the MATATAG Agenda in January 2023, under Duterte’s leadership. The project aims to revise the basic education curriculum, accelerate the delivery of facilities and services, prioritize the well-being of students, and provide better support for teachers.

The MATATAG curriculum already attracted controversy last year for removing the name of the President’s father and namesake, the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, from the term “Diktadurang Marcos (Marcos Dictatorship)” in the Grade 6 Araling Panlipunan (AP) program.

Play Video

The approval of the NEDA Board, which Marcos chairs, indicates that funding for the said projects will push through as planned, but government press releases did not make specifics on the matter.

It comes as President Marcos faces calls to remove Duterte from her Cabinet, as the rift between their families continues to spill into public view, aggravated by First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos’ revelation that she is not in good terms with the country’s second-in-command.

On Thursday, the NEDA Board also approved to increase the project cost of the public-private partnership for the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital Cancer Center from P6.05 billion to P9.49 billion, and the new guidelines of the NEDA Board Investment Coordination Committee to expedite the review and approval of national PPP proposals. – Rappler.com