Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

.title[
# Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
]
.subtitle[
## A comprehensive look at the budget, 2018-2026
]
.date[
### August 2026
]

---

# Section 1 of 3: The Scale of the Budget

### A PHP 26-billion skills-and-scholarships agency

---

## Executive summary

- **TESDA is one of the fastest-growing agencies in the budget** -- the government's technical-vocational education & training (TVET) authority. Enacted funding **more than tripled, from PHP 7.6B (2018) to PHP 26.1B (2026)** -- about +245%, or ~17% a year.
- **In budget terms it is a scholarships-and-training operation.** Two P/A/Ps that fund TVET provision and scholarships are **94% of the 2026 budget**, and the agency is **86% MOOE** (grants and training) -- very little goes to personnel or capital.
- **Congress is a major driver of that growth.** Legislated add-ons total roughly **+PHP 17B cumulatively** over 2018-2026 -- almost all to scholarship provision, including **+PHP 6.3B in 2024 and +PHP 6.1B in 2026** -- while the TVET-innovation line was trimmed (-PHP 1.8B).
- **The money is growing faster than it is being spent.** Cash utilization (disbursements-to-allotment) slid from ~84% (2018) to **68% (2024)**, and lower still in the most recent year -- a widening absorptive-capacity gap.
- **Three homes in nine years.** TESDA sat under the OEOs (2018), moved to the **DTI (2019-2022)**, and reverted to the **DOLE (2023)** -- though its five-program structure stayed stable throughout.

---

## A few notes on the data

- **Period:** FY 2018-2026 for the proposed (NEP) and enacted (GAA) budget; execution data (Allotments, Obligations, Disbursements) covers FY 2011-2025.
- **Two bases, not comparable.** NEP/GAA figures are **current-year new appropriations only**. The execution figures are DBM's **published agency aggregates, which lump together all available funds** -- new, automatic, and continuing appropriations. Do not read them one-to-one.
- **No P/A/P-level execution.** Usable FAR No. 1 records were unavailable for TESDA, so absorption is shown only at the **agency level**.
- **Three reorganizations.** TESDA's mother agency changed twice: **OEOs -> DTI (~2019) -> DOLE (~2023)**. Its P/A/P structure is otherwise stable, so program lines are comparable across all years.
- **Recent-year execution** may reflect disbursements still in progress at the reporting cut-off, so the newest year's cash-utilization rate can understate the eventual total.
- **Expense classes:** PS, MOOE, CO. **Units:** PHP billions unless noted.

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## Three mother agencies, one stable structure

**The structure stayed put even as the department changed** -- so the budget series is comparable across the moves, unlike agencies that also re-cut their programs.

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## Big picture: a tripling in eight years

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## Big picture: a few takeaways

- **Growth is heavily back-loaded:** the budget roughly doubled again between 2022 (PHP 13.8B) and 2026 (PHP 26.1B).
- **The enacted budget usually exceeds the proposal** -- often by billions -- so TESDA's growth is as much a *Congressional* story as an Executive one.
- **FY 2026 (PHP 26.1B) is the largest in the series**, and the gap over the proposal (PHP 6.1B) is among the widest.

---

## Where Congress adjusts the budget

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## Which P/A/Ps does Congress augment?

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# Section 2 of 3: Where the Money Goes

### Programs, scholarships, and expense classes

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## Composition by program

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## Composition by expense class

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## The largest P/A/Ps (FY 2026 GAA)

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# Section 3 of 3: Does TESDA Spend What It Receives?

### Budget execution, FY 2011-2025 (agency aggregate, all funds)

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## Execution over time

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## Absorptive capacity

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## Execution at a glance

<table class="table table-condensed table-striped" style="font-size: 14px; color: black; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Year </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Allotments </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Obligations </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> Disbursements </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> O/A </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> D/O </th>
   <th style="text-align:right;"> D/A </th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2017 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 8.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 7.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 6.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 97.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 77.9% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 75.6% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2018 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 7.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 6.9 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 6.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 89.0% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 94.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 83.7% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2019 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 14.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 12.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 10.9 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 87.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 86.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 75.3% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2020 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 12.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 10.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 8.6 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 83.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 80.4% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 67.2% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2021 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 17.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 16.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 13.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 92.3% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 83.9% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 77.4% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2022 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 16.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 15.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 13.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 90.6% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 91.7% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 83.1% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2023 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 18.5 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 16.3 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 14.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 88.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 90.1% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 79.4% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2024 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 26.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 22.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 17.7 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 84.4% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 80.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 67.9% </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2025 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 24.8 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 18.1 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 12.0 </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 72.8% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 66.5% </td>
   <td style="text-align:right;"> 48.4% </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

.small[
PHP billions, all-funds basis. **O/A** = obligations to allotment; **D/O** = disbursements to obligations; **D/A** = disbursements to allotment. TESDA obligates most of what it is given, but the **share actually disbursed has fallen** as the budget scaled up -- so an increasing amount is committed but not yet paid out within the year.
]

---

## For discussion

- **1. Is the growth turning into outcomes?** The budget tripled to PHP 26B. Is it producing more -- and better-employed -- TVET graduates, or mainly more enrolment slots and scholarship stipends? The budget alone can't tell us.

- **2. Can TESDA spend what it is given?** Cash utilization has fallen toward half in recent years. Are scholarships and training funds reaching learners on time, and what is causing the disbursement lag as the budget grows?

- **3. Scholarships vs. everything else.** 94% of the budget sits in two provision lines. Can learners and training providers see which scholarship programs, regions and trades the money funds -- and are standards, assessment and *innovation* adequately resourced alongside it?

- **4. Congress's PHP 17B hand.** Legislated add-ons are enormous and concentrated in scholarship provision, while the innovation line was cut. Is scaling current programs the right priority relative to modernising the TVET system?

- **5. Almost no capital.** Capital outlay is negligible even at PHP 26B. For a skills agency, is under-investment in training centers and equipment a constraint on quality?

---

# Thank you

### Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
#### A comprehensive look at the budget, 2018-2026

.footnote[Underlying data: DBM NEP & GAA documents (current-year new appropriations, P/A/P level), FY 2018-2026; DBM-published execution aggregates (all available funds, agency level), FY 2011-2025. No FAR No. 1 (P/A/P-level execution) was available for TESDA.]