PASIG CITY, February 1, 2017 – “People in financial management are equally important with the school administrator, policy makers and teachers.”

This was the message of Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones to the Department of Education’s (DepEd) budget officers and accountants participating in the one-week National Workshop on the Preparation of Year-end Financial Report at Atrium Hotel in Pasay City.

In her keynote speech, Briones said that finance people play an important role in the efforts of the Department in providing quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for all.

The Education chief, who graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountancy, emphasized on the connection of being a finance person in the delivery of quality basic education.

“Teachers cannot function without their salaries, without their service records, without the supervision and the regulation that the superintendents render, as well as the regional director.”

She added, “We are all involved in providing quality education, whether we are bookkeepers or we are budget officers, or we are mere secretaries in the office of budget or of financial management.”

Briones said that finance people should provide the resources that will help teachers achieve their mission.

“If we do not account for the resources that the government gives us, then we do disservice to our people.”

“A teacher cannot teach properly if his or her salary is delayed for six months, or if the PBB is delayed for three days, or if her loan is not deducted properly, or if they cannot retire on time. We have to help our teachers do their job and to make our Department efficient for the delivery of quality basic education,” she added.

Briones further noted that if students are to learn in a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, safe and motivating environment, the accountants and finance people should create the environment.

“We release the funds for the salary, we release the money and we record and we demand the accountability for the books, laboratory equipment, furniture, and so on. We contribute to the innovations that are being developed in the classrooms because we provide the funding support as well as demand the accountability for such funding support.”

The seminar-workshop was attended by almost 250 finance people composed of budget officers and accountants of the Department from its Central, Regional and Division offices nationwide.

The one-week national workshop aims to discuss the policy issuances on financial management; discuss updates on DepEd’s programs and projects on finance and implementation procedures; and facilitate the preparation, review, and consolidation of financial reports.

The activity is hosted by the DepEd National Capital Region.

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