SUCs budget for 2012 higher by 10%, says DBM chief Abad

The budget cuts, which some students of state universities and colleges (SUCs) alleged and have protested against, are the opposite of what has been proposed to Congress, according to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, who noted that SUCs will get 10.1 percent more next year.

Abad said the total allocation for the SUCs is actually P26.1 billion. The country has 110 main campuses of SUCs plus 388 satellite campuses.

“Clearly, the state subsidy for SUCs is higher next year. But more important than the increase, this proposed budget supports the development of SUCs as responsive to the government’s five priority areas for growth and employment,” Abad said.

Breaking down the allocation, Abad said P23.6 billion are for the SUCs, including automatic appropriations itemized for each institution.

Also part of the proposed 2012 allocation are a standby fund of more than P2 billion under the Miscellaneous and Personnel Benefit Funds for unfilled positions in SUCs, and an additional P500 million under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for SUC development.

Students’ protests

Budget cut protests have been going on for several days now at the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines. There were also protest rallies in other SUCs, including the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and the Philippine Normal University.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) has claimed that for next year, “a total amount of P569.8 million will be slashed in the proposed allotments to 50 SUCs. The maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of 45 schools will be slashed by P250.9 million. http://nusp.org/fight-for-greater-state-subsidy-no-to-budget-cuts/

“The budget for Personal Services (PS) has also been decreased by P403.3 million despite the supposed automatic increase in PS for each year, due to the Salary Standardization Law,” the NUSP said.

The NUSP also lamented the zero allotment for capital outlay, “despite the large number of youth that SUCs are unable to accommodate, the government will not support the construction of new buildings and facilities.”

SUCs budget highlights

In his budget message to Congress, President Benigno Aquino III said the provision of “P25.8 billion for 110 SUCs will support the attainment of quality yet affordable education at the tertiary level.”

“I have directed these SUCs to align their budgets, as well as their curricula, and focus their course offerings on the specific needs to pursue the priority development areas of the administration,” Aquino also said.

The President added that “P500 million will be used to ensure that the curricula of State Universities and Colleges focus and concentrate on human resource development into our priority areas for economic development: business process outsourcing, tourism, agriculture and fisheries, and infrastructure development.

Also in the proposed budget for 2012 is P681 million from the total CHED budget of P2.2 billion “to finance its Student Financial Assistance Programs which are expected to benefit 47,330 grantees belonging to the poor and disadvantaged sectors,” according to Aquino.

Another P500 million of the CHED budget — P250 million for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses and P250 million for Capital Outlay — will be given as additional funding for activities in line with the government’s priority areas for growth.

Abad revealed that the Business Processing Association of the Philippines is proposing to train 58,000 potential BPO applicants, of which the association has committed to employ 37,000. TESDA will train the applicants from SUCs on what the industry needs for its expansion areas.

Government is being asked to shoulder P500 million — P350 million for student training and P150 million for hiring and training teachers. — With reports from Amita Legaspi and Mark Merueñas/ELR/VS, GMA News