Over 20,000 DepEd’s teaching positions are still vacant – solon

MANILA, Philippines — Over 20,000 teaching positions of the Department of Education (DepEd) are currently unfilled, according to Davao de Oro Rep. Maricar Zamora on Tuesday. 

During the House sponsorship and plenary deliberations on the proposed DepEd budget for next year, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio asked Zamora about the current status of vacant teaching positions.

Zamora, the agency’s budget sponsor, answered queries from other lawmakers. 

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She said DepEd created more than 31,000 positions under the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

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She noted that of this figure, over 22,700 teaching positions were already filled.

READ: DepEd can’t hire new teachers in 2027 due to budget cuts – Angara

“Out of the 31,428 positions, 22,711 positions are filled, which leaves 8,688 unfilled positions as of June 30, 2026 data. Previous years also had a total of 12,646 unfilled positions,” Zamora counted.

“In total, we have around 20,000 unfilled positions, based on June 30, 2026 data,” she added the two periods. 

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Tinio then asked why the DepEd has over 20,000 vacancies amid the long list of registered qualified applicants waiting to be hired.

In response, Zamora said that one of the reasons for the delay in filling plantilla positions is that there are “hard-to-fill positions.”

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She also noted that factors such as waiving of beneficiaries under special hiring guidelines, and lack of qualified applicants for appropriate specializations.

Zamora also mentioned that there are still other unfilled positions for non-teaching personnel.

However, she did not say the exact figures for the items.

Tinio also recalled DepEd’s presentation during the House committee appropriations budget briefing, where Education Secretary Sonny Angara said there was no funding for hiring new teachers in 2027.

Angara had said funding is part of the wish list, where the agency requested an additional P49.1 billion for its “personnel improvement” program, including P4.2 billion for hiring 14,274 teachers. 

Tinio once again asked whether DepEd will ask for new items to sustain teacher hiring.

Zamora said the agency will continue its hiring process this year and into next year. 

“This is because the allocation, the appropriation given to the department from the GAA 2026, is still being implemented starting this year, and the hiring will continue until next year.” she explained.

“Therefore, there is no such thing as we stopped the hiring, but we are still hiring as we speak,” Zamora said. 

Expanded career progression program

Tinio also inquired why the proposed budget for the expanded career progression is only P12 billion, despite its target of promoting 135,000 teachers.

He observed that there are 100,000 backlogs from 2026, with a 35,000-strong new batch of applicants for next year. 

READ: DepEd advances teacher career progression with 5,335 promotions

“If only the department had its way, the department would give what it’s due to everyone. But considering the limited resources, the department proposes a more realistic amount,” Zamora told Tinio. 

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Zamora also said that as the agency targets promoting 135,000 teachers next year, that is higher than past allocations, when the department could promote only around 5,000 positions. /apl