BADget CUT!

The Official Statement of the UPV University Student Council on the Recent Budget Cut for UP and the Whole Education Sector



11 September 2010





"We allocated Php23.4 billion to 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in 2011. This is 1.7% lower than the Php23.8 billion budget for 2010. We are gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent, given their ability to raise their income and to utilize for their programs and projects."



- President Benigno Aquino,

Statement on the Budget for 2011







This has been the biggest budget cut in the history of the University of the Philippines . From the Php18.5 B proposed budget by the UP Administration down to Php5.5 B. This is Php1.39 B short than the previous year's UP budget. The Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures (MOOE) is slashed by 52%. The Capital Outlay is reduced to an extreme ZERO.



It thus becomes evident that the promised change of the Aquino Administration has fallen into the ground as he continues the schemes of the past regimes.



The UPV University Student Council, mandated to defend and be at the forefront of the struggle for the rights and interests of each Iskolar ng Bayan, strongly opposes the Php1.39 B UP Budget Cut and the further commercialization and privatization of UP and the whole education sector.



We believe that education is a right, thus, it should be given affordable and accessible to all. It must be given the highest priority as stipulated in the Philippine Constitution. We believe that reducing the budget not only for UP but to the whole education sector is a manifestation of further commercialization of education. This would lead to more increases in the tuition and other exorbitant fees in the University. Despite the high cost of education in UP due to the increased tuition which deemed to answer the lack of facilities and budget, other fees were still collected. In UP Visayas for instance, implementation and collection of various fees have been rampant. In the May 27 Board of Regents (BOR) meeting, laboratory fee increases of over 600% on 7 Biology subjects and 2 statistics lab fees both in Cebu College and 5 laboratory fees in Miag-ao were approved by the BOR. In Tacloban College , laboratory fees on their Humanities subject have been collected despite the lack of laboratory. The struggle of the SOTECH students for additional laboratories and equipment particularly for the BS in Chemical Engineering majors has long been standing. Collection of PE Lab Fees, though it was recently deferred due to the lack of consultation to the students and opposition among the lines of the students and student councils, was never put into close by the Roman Administration. Truly, redundancy on fee collection is quiet apparent.



Further commercialization of education is always accompanied by intensified repression in the campus. The past administration has proven adept at this kind of manoeuvre. The 6 dreadful years of the so-called Roman empire had drastically diverted the public character of UP as a people's university through passing the 300% Tuition and Other Fees Increase (TOFI), more than 50 laboratory fees and increases system-wide, leasing of idle assets to private corporations for the sake of IGP, harassment of student leaders and organizations and worst, the ouster of the sole representative of the students in the BOR which is critical to their anti-student and anti-people policies – the Student Regent.



We believe that this step would only justify and aggravate the worsening condition of the Philippine Educational System – Colonial, Commercialized and Fascist – and this only confirms the state's abandonment to their responsibility to allocate a higher budget for education. Thus, we urge and challenge the UP Presidential nominees to take a vital position and action on the current crises inside and outside the university and uphold the public character of UP as the state's Premier University .



We likewise challenge the Aquino Administration to reverse the policies it makes that further lessen the budget for education. He must stand on his words during his campaign period that he will prioritize education among others and allocate 6% of the GDP to education as what the UNESCO recommended.



We are one with the other youth and students in the call to re-channel the budget spent for debt servicing, military and programs prone to corruption to the education sector. And in this light, we call on all the Iskolars ng Bayan to unite in the fight for greater budget for UP and the whole education sector.



History tells us that only through our collective action we can surpass and even trample down an administration that has been deaf in the calls of the students and of the people. It has been proven that our rights were never given to us for free. They were gained through the unwavering passion of the early Iskolars ng Bayan to uphold the institution's public character as well as to defend each student's rights and interests. Once again, let us link our arms together as time calls us to fight firmly for our just and legitimate struggle for education.







OPPOSE THE Php1.39 B BUDGET CUT FOR UP!

UPHOLD THE PUBLIC CHARACTER OF UP AS A PEOPLE'S UNIVERSITY!



EDUCATION IS A RIGHT!

NO TO COMMERCIALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION OF EDUCATION!

NO TO STATE ABANDONMENT ON EDUCATION!

FIGHT FOR GREATER STATE SUBSIDY!


ISKOLAR NG BAYAN, TULOY PA RIN ANG LABAN!