Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday welcomed the Senate’s adoption of a resolution creating a Cabinet Cluster that will bring together top officials of education and other concerned agencies to tackle the country’s learning crisis.
The Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 21 which calls for the creation of a President’s Cabinet Cluster for Education, a key recommendation of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) co-chaired by Cayetano.
The cluster will also oversee the implementation of education reforms and align education with real-world job demands.
It will include the heads of the sub-education agencies, namely the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), as co-Chairpersons.
They will work in consultation with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); the Department of Budget and Management (DBM); the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev, formerly known as the National Economic and Development Authority or NEDA); the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
“This will pave the way for a common vision for our education sector. When we share the same vision, we can move in the same direction, even if our agencies have different roles,” Cayetano said.
The proposed cluster will initiate and oversee efforts across education agencies while awaiting the legislative creation of a commission that will carry on the work started by EDCOM II.
Cayetano, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education, emphasized that including DOLE and DBM in the cluster is essential to ensure that education is directly linked to workforce needs and that funding for reforms is sustained.
“Education shouldn’t stop at graduation but should lead to employment and a better life. That’s why labor and budget agencies must be part of the conversation from the start,” he said.
The resolution was filed in 2024 by Cayetano and fellow EDCOM II commissioners Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva, and Aquilino Pimentel III.
It highlights the long-standing lack of coordination among education agencies due to the trifocalized setup introduced in the 1990s which split responsibilities among DepEd for basic education, CHED for higher education, and TESDA for technical-vocational training.
While the system was intended to clarify functions, critics say it has led to overlapping programs, fragmented implementation, and missed opportunities for reform.
With the Senate’s approval and the House of Representatives having adopted the same resolution in August 2024, the legislative process for the proposal is now complete.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had earlier expressed support for the cluster in principle.|
