Solon: House to keep funding for child protection, mental health in 2027

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives plans to continue funding mental health support and child protection programs next year, a lawmaker said on Thursday as budget talks are underway in the chamber.

In a media briefing, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said a recent school shooting in Zamboanga City underscored the need to sustain Department of Education (DepEd) programs on support and protection to aid students in distress.

“Because of the recent school shooting we experienced, I think these programs should continue,” Alonto Adiong, a vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told a media briefing.

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READ: Schools urged to focus on student support, not just security

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The Ateneo de Zamboanga University was rocked on Tuesday after two people were killed, including a grade 9 student identified as the shooter who opened fire on fellow students.

The incident was the second school shooting in recent months in the Philippines, underscoring how firearms from the black market or lax handling of legal guns persist despite the country’s strict ownership regulations.

Tuesday’s attack followed a shooting in June on a Tacloban City campus that left three dead and at least 20 others injured. 

Alonto Adiong said Congress allotted P2.37 billion in DepEd’s budget this year for school mental health programs, including funding for personnel to regularly assess and assist students. The 2026 budget also funded 10,000 school counselors to expand mental health services, he added.

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DepEd also has P89.92 billion in its budget for a child protection program aimed at protecting learners from abuse, he added.

Those programs will undergo closer scrutiny from lawmakers once the education department’s budget is heard by the House Appropriations Committee, Alonto Adiong said.

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“We hope that we can actually be apprised of the ongoing program from DepEd, whether these allocations… have been utilized,” he said.

Lawmakers, he said, will also scrutinize whether DepEd schools’ maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) are enough to hire security to safeguard campuses.

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“We will look into whether, within their MOOE, it is truly necessary to provide them with enough budget to hire security agencies, so that this kind of violence will not happen again,” Alonto Adiong said. /jpv