NOV.

2, 2011 DATE

NR # 2575
REF. NO.

Solon urges Congress to consider raising 2012 budget of SUCs

Hopeful that the Senate and the House of Representatives would ultimately increase the budget for state universities and colleges next year, a lawmaker called on Congress to raise state subsidy to SUCs to ensure quality and accessible tertiary education of the youth. Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito (Lone District, San Juan City), through House Resolution 1794, urged Congress to increase state financial support for SUCs for fiscal year 2012, stressing that more than 120 House members and presidents of various SUCs from all over the country signed last month the Joint Manifesto he authored calling Congress to hike state subsidy to SUCs. Ejercito warned the cut in the SUCs budget will only lead to further commercialization of education as these public higher education institutions would impose higher and rampant tuition and matriculation fee hikes to generate their own incomes. This will result in massive displacement and denial of the Filipino youth to tertiary education, Ejercito said. Ejercito, a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, said in last years SUCs budget, the zero allotment for capital outlay led to further deterioration of SUCs physical facilities. No funds were earmarked for procurement of new equipment, nor for the repairs and rehabilitation of school buildings and laboratories according to him. Ejercito cited the statement of the executive director of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) that SUCs would be unable to afford ambitious projects to raise their quality on the proposed P26.1 billion budget for some 110 schools. Ejercito said the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, with a population of 68,000, proposed a P2 billion budget for 2010 but the Department of Budget and Management only approved P735 million. Meanwhile, the University of the Philippines, whose administration proposed a budget of P17 billion, was allotted only a third or P5.54 billion which constitutes a 3.6 percent or P208.2 million decrease from the current P5.75 billion budget of U.P. Ejercito said the government will allot only P23.6 billion for all 110 SUCs in the country which is P146.6-million decrease from the P23.7 billion budget for 2011. The P23.6 billion SUCs budget for this year is less than a third of the original P62 billion budget proposed by SUCs. It appears the National Government budget for fiscal year 2012 has little care for public higher education and seemingly, the State is abandoning its duty for a quality and accessible education, and its responsibility to the Filipino youth, Ejercito said. Ejercito said education is fundamental in nation-building as it is the means by which the youth are being prepared and trained to accept responsibility for their countrys citizens in the future. Nations who lack a sound educational system and without adequate government support will inevitably suffer as their citizens experience hardship from lack of stability, Ejercito said. (30) rbb