Brigades takeover costs P249m

The  takeover has resulted in 103 percent increase in the recurrent budget for the Department of Technical  and Vocational Education and Training (DVET), bulging to P 488, 494, 570 in the 2009/10 financial year. Already government has  taken over  22 brigades, which has settled their liabilities. The takeover is effective from April this year.

The takeover has added 731 new posts to the department's (DVET)  establishment.  He said P15.8 million has resulted from the 15 percent salary increase on the pre-takeover posts, while operating costs  of the Brigades have also risen by P126.8 million.The Brigades takeover gets another P20 million  of the development budget.