Education agencies vow unity as Marcos says reforms must outlast his term

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January 30, 2026 | 4:13pm

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday, January 29, said education reforms must outlast his presidency, as he accepted a decade-long plan aimed at reversing decades of failure in Philippine schools. 

The three agencies running Philippine education — the Department of Education (DepEd) for basic education, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for colleges, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for skills training — committed to treating the 10-year plan as their shared "compass" during its ceremonial turnover at Malacañang yesterday.

The 10-year education and workforce plan is contained in the final and third report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), which was released this week. Congress created EDCOM II in 2022 on the heels of a pandemic that deepened the country's learning crisis. 

The commission's three-year assessment of the education system depended on DepEd, CHED, and TESDA opening their records and sharing the nitty gritty of a wide range of issues: from mass promotion policies to administrative problems that have long resulted in start-and-stop reforms that change with every term.

Both Education Secretary Sonny Angara and TESDA Director General Kiko Benitez themselves previously served as EDCOM commissioners — Angara as senator and Benitez as congressman of Negros Occidental — before Marcos carted them off to lead DepEd and TESDA in 2024, after vacancies that opened for the top posts.

"This report shows us that we must think beyond the present, beyond my administration and current local leadership terms," Marcos said during the ceremony.

The president described the EDCOM II final report, titled "Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reform," as providing "a clear picture of the learning crisis that our education system needs to overcome."

He called on government, educators, industries, and communities to act "in unity, and with determination and consistency" to improve the education system.

Agency commitments

Angara acknowledged the report provides an "honest and evidence-based picture" that "does not soften the challenges before us."

"The learning crisis is not a DepEd problem alone," Angara said in a news release shared by EDCOM II. "The roadmap is clear, but delivery will depend on how well the entire government moves together."

The report will help the three education agencies "finally move past fragemented reforms," said the DepEd secretary and former Senate finance committee chair in a social media post. 

"This is a landmark moment, because for the first time in a decade, under the administration of President Bongbong Marcos, the education agencies are now working as one," Angara said.

CHED Chairperson Shirley Agrupis said the problems identified are not new but can no longer be postponed. 

"Fragmented interventions and short-term fixes will no longer suffice. What is required is coherence across agencies," Agrupis said.  

TESDA Director General Kiko Benitez described the moment as critical for workforce readiness.

"Skills are the most valuable currency. That is why we are pouring everything into delivering Training to Employment for our countrymen," Benitez said. 

The 10-year plan recommends, among others, an institutional response to ending mass promotion, ensuring every child reads by Grade 3, addressing the classroom backlog, revising procurement to ensure timely textbook delivery, and fully implementing the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program.

It also proposes increasing education spending from the current 4.36% of GDP to 5.5% by 2035, requiring an estimated P2.66 trillion in incremental costs over the plan period.