US aid freeze threatens $94M DepEd projects

People protest outside of the headquarters for United States Agency for International Development (USAID), before Congressional Democrats hold news conference in Washington, DC, on February 3, 2025. —Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) is exploring ways to continue five projects funded by the US government, despite US President Donald Trump’s recent freeze on foreign aid.

These projects, worth $94.02 million (about P5 billion), are supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and are part of DepEd’s five-point agenda to improve the country’s education system, said Assistant Education Secretary Roger Masapol.

“This means that all support provided by our partners, including the USAID, was already mapped out in our priorities and this also means that putting a hold on these programs would have an effect on our reform process in the DepEd,” Masapol said in an interview on Radyo 630.

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He said the agency might look at the continuing funds under DepEd’s budget to cover the gap.

“We know how important the outputs of these US-supported programs are, that is why in the next three months we will mitigate (the aid freeze’s impact on) the DepEd to continue these efforts,” Masapol said.

They must go on

The five projects are:

• ABC+, which is aimed at providing access to quality reading materials for early literacy development;

• Opportunity 2.0, which provides US government support for the alternative learning system;

• Gabay program, a project specific for learners with disabilities;

• Improving Learning Outcomes for the Philippines (ILO-PH), which will help DepEd in designing, implementing and evaluating education programs from early childhood to workforce development;

• Urban Connect, a joint gender development program.

Masapol said ABC+, Opportunity 2.0, Gabay and ILO-PH are focused on developing learning materials and policy formulation in line with Education Secretary Sonny Angara’s reforms.

He said DepEd will not allow these critical reforms to be entirely affected and will find ways to keep the projects going.

Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 calling for a 90-day pause in new foreign assistance obligations and disbursements pending a review of the United States’ foreign aid programs.

USAID has posted an advisory on its website stating that all direct-hire personnel globally will be on administrative leave starting Friday.

Masapol acknowledged that the Trump order has a “big effect” and would impact the timeline of DepEd’s projects.

“It is of course regrettable because we already started [on the part of DepEd]. Everything was smooth sailing and then there are these hiccups along the way. But, we will find ways to mitigate the effects,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it remained optimistic that the Philippines and the United States would continue collaborating on development work.

“We value our development cooperation work with the United States, especially in critical areas like education, global health, and disaster risk reduction or response. The projects have positively impacted the lives of many Filipinos and their communities,” Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the US government to achieve mutually shared development objectives,” he added.

In the Philippines, USAID funding mostly go into efforts to protect natural resources, promote water and energy security, support low-carbon transition, combat illegal and exploitative fishing, and reduce vulnerability to climate change. —with a report from Julie M. Aurelio