DISMISSING THE ALLEGATIONS made by a self-confessed crook as mere hearsay, Education Secretary Sonny Angara shrugged off calls for him to step down.
This comes as former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo dragged Angara into a kickback scheme from “funded” government infrastructure projects during his stint as Senator.
According to Bernardo, Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar (who was then Angara’s chief-of-staff) received kickbacks intended for the former senator.
UNSUPPORTED CALL
Angara made the assertion following the resignations of several Cabinet officials. He said the claims linking him to the fund controversy are baseless and unsupported by any evidence.
The DepEd chief told reporters that what was raised against him was just hearsay — “There was no specific accusation. There’s no mention of any transaction, so if that were brought to court, it would be dismissed, am I right?
He said he sees no reason to resign noting that no formal accusations have been made against him.
ANGARA AS SENATOR
During his Senate stint, Angara served as finance committee chair from 2019 to 2024, and shepherded the passage of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the national budget, in those years.
As finance chair, Angara used to sit in the so-called “small committee” of the bicameral conference panel supposedly to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the Senate and House versions of the proposed budget measure for each year.
It is, however, in the small committee that most of the fund insertions were purportedly carried out, GMA news said.
ANGARA AS SECRETARY
Angara was appointed DepEd secretary In July 2024 just months after completing his second term as senator, replacing then Secretary (Vice President) Sara Duterte.
Angara’s assertion comes amid heightened scrutiny of government officials on their alleged involvement in the corruption scandal involving public works projects, supposedly derived from fund insertions in the GAA.
Bernardo, in his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee implicated more personalities, including senators as supposed “proponents” of public works projects, supposedly in exchange for kickbacks.
ASIDE FROM ANGARA
Aside from Angara, Bernardo tagged more members of the upper chamber into the fund scandal.
In a supplemental affidavit, Bernardo also named former senators Grace Poe, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and Nancy Binay as having allegedly received up to 25% of the project cost as part of the “commitment” (aka kickback) from funding items inserted in the national budget.
Blue ribbon committee chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson revealed last Monday that Bernardo provided him with details of how one of Angara’s senior officials in the DepEd, allegedly received kickbacks from anomalous DPWH projects.
TRYGYVE OLAIVAR WHO?
In his earlier testimony, Bernardo said he knew and had worked with Olaivar as early as 2010 when he was still a staff member of then-Senator Revilla.
Olaivar went on to work in the office of former Senate President Edgardo Angara, and later with then-Senator Sonny Angara, where he worked alongside former Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.
Bernardo recalled several dealings with Olaivar between 2019 and 2024, with the latter allegedly receiving deliveries representing 12% of the projects supposedly for Angara as Senate finance chairperson.
UNTARNISHED REPUTATION
Angara is widely respected as DepEd secretary and has even undertaken an audit of school buildings built by the DPWH, where he noticed several unfinished and ghost projects and submitted his audit findings to the President.
He was part of the “Magic 7” senators who opposed the 2024 ouster of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Unlike his predecessor Vice President Sara Duterte, Angara had set the following key priorities and initiatives, which effectively took the agency into greater heights.
BEYOND PLANNING
Angara laid down what academicians described as timely and doable programs which include:
- Focus on long-term reforms via the 10-year Quality Basic Education Development Plan (QBEDP) 2025–2035: Improving teaching quality, governance, funding alignment, and inter-agency coordination.
- Addressing learning poverty, digital literacy, post-COVID recovery, curriculum review, public-private partnerships, and teacher welfare (e.g., overtime pay, health insurance, feeding programs).
- Reducing involvement in non-education tasks (sits on 261 inter-agency bodies).
- Sustained programs like MATATAG curriculum and alternative delivery modes.
In the May Cabinet reshuffle he was among the first to tender his courtesy resignation but was retained by President Marcos in June 2025. Education stakeholders strongly supported his continuation, citing his reforms and experience.