OSR on the 2 Billion UP Budget Cut

Slashed UP Budget for 2010 spells more fee increases in the coming year

Militant struggle for democratic rights must counter Arroyo government's framework of diminishing budget for education and other social services.

Yet again, the Filipino people are cast in a bleak spot with the approval of the P1.541 trillion national budget by the House of Representatives. While the Arroyo government is all praises with the proposed 2010 budget, dire times await us, ordinary citizens.

The budget for 2010 increased by 8.1% from this year's P1.426 trillion. However, such increase will be hardly felt in terms of social services as a big portion of it was automatically allocated to debt payments. Allocation for debt payments has increased by P88 billion eating up more than 22% of the national budget.

Meanwhile, Malacañang remains unmoved by the deteriorating state of the education sector. In 2010, the budget for state universities and colleges will be reduced by more than P3 billion from P24.228 billion in 2009 to 21.034 billion this year. After being battered by disaster after disaster, from Ondoy to Pepeng, the whole nation hopes for relief through social services. But with this kind of allocation, the Arroyo administration exposes its clear priority of pleasing its foreign donors through debt servicing -- much to the detriment of the Filipino people.

Manifest government abandonment of UP and other State Universities

Based on the proposal submitted by the UP administration to the Department of Budget and Management, UP would need an allocation of P18.3 billion to sustain its programs. However, the Congress-approved budget would force the University to make do with just a little more than 1/3 of its proposed budget. The allocation of P5.289 billion would hardly be enough to cover for the growing needs of the University and its constituents.

Broken down, UP's expenditures is subdivided into: Personnel Services (PS), Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) and Capital Outlay (CO). PS is intended for the salaries of UP's faculty and non-academic workforce, MOOE for the expenses on utilities, repairs and maintenance of facilities and CO is intended for the construction of infrastructure such as the student dormitory for UP Mindanao and UPV Tacloban and buildings for UP Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga.

This year, PS grew by P236 million compared to the allocation in 2009. However, the increase was due to the adjustments to the salaries of government employees including those of UP. While PS increased, allocations for MOOE and CO experienced huge reduction. MOOE was slashed by a whopping P280 million while CO got ZERO allocation or a cut of P2 billion.
Other state universities and colleges like the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and Philippine Normal University (PNU) also got huge cuts in their budget. PUP's budget was slashed by P43 million while PNU by P12 million.

Services sacrificed, students pay for services

Again, students are put in the spot with the gaping hole caused by this budget cut. Given their way, the UP administration would thus resort to its most convenient alternative of sacrificing services while forcing students to pay for these services.

Among the clear indications of such moves are the following:
1.) freezing the development or creation of new academic programs;
2.) shelving construction of much needed infrastructure such as academic buildings, dormitories, and for UP Mindanao in particular, well-paved access roads;
3.) cost-cutting measures such as imposition of curfews, non-provision and/or demolition of org tambayans, etc.;
4.) streamlining of academic programs (in the case of UPV Cebu College, the reduction of enrolment and planned closure of its High School program);
5.) imposition of more expensive and additional laboratory fees; and
6.) imposition of exorbitant fees on facilities like conference halls/rooms, audio-visual rooms, meeting halls, gymnasia, LCD projectors, and/or other multimedia equipment.

Further Commercialization

The University is treading the dangerous path of commercialization and eventual privatization. Following the national framework laid down by the Long-Term Higher Education Development Plan (LTHEDP), the UP administration is now vigorously and consciously engaged in schemes that acquiesce to the policy of state abandonment. In its objective to be "self-sufficient" , the Roman administration is busy marketing the University's assets. These assets were granted to the University supposedly for academic purposes and also to democratize access through broadening UP's presence in the country.

To make the commercialization of UP's assets acceptable to its constituents, the UP administration is leasing out properties to big corporations while bandying the great lie that this effort is in line with the University's academic, research and extension work. The UP – Ayala Techno Hub in Diliman is a glaring example of this lie as restaurants, call centers and banks which do not engage in academic pursuits inhabit the area. The conversion of assets for business interests is now being replicated or proposed in other units like UP Los Baños, UP Manila and UPV Cebu College.

Our weapon: Collective and Militant Action

With this scenario, Iskolars ng Bayan are thus challenged to put a big fight against the budget cut imposed on UP and the rest of the State Universities and Colleges. We must assert greater priority to and higher budget for the education sector. History has been witness that only through our collective and militant action can we emerge victorious in the fight for our right to education. Laban mga Iskolars ng Bayan!

Badyet ng UP at lahat ng SUCs, dagdagan, huwag bawasan!
Tutulan at labanan ang pagtalikod ng pamahalaan sa obligasyon nito sa pampublikong edukasyong tersaryo!
Irechannel sa serbisyong panlipunan ang badyet na inila'an sa pagbabayad ng utang panlabas!




-OFFICE OF THE STUDENT REGENT