No to education budget cuts!

We, youth and students and from different universities, parents, educators and advocates, are outraged by the phenomenal budget cuts in the education sector. No words can express our disappointment and disbelief upon learning of this latest injustice – from no less than an administration that vowed to place education and the youth in its highest priority.

The figures would best depict the travesty. The allocation for SUCs in the proposed 2011 national budget has been reduced by 1.7 percent, from P23.8 billion in 2010 to only P23.4 billion this year. The proposed budget for 25 out of 112 SUCs has also been decreased by as much as 23.5%.

Funds allotted for the University of the Philippines (UP), the country’s premier state university, with a population of 52,000, has been slashed by P1.39 billion or by 20.11%. The Philippine Normal University’s budget is reduced by P92 million cut or by 23.59%. A staggering P88 Million has been deducted from the budget of Bicol University cutting its budget by 18.82%.

There is a P1.1 billion (28.16 percent) decrease in the operations budget for SUCs. All but 15 SUCs have cuts in their operating budgets (MOOE) some by as much as 50%. These, by far, are the biggest education budget cuts in history.

The Aquino administration has also adopted the previous regime’s zero allotment for capital outlay for SUCs. In the proposed P23.4 Billion for 2011, no funds have been earmarked for the procurement of new equipment, nor for the repairs, construction and improvement of facilities. SUCs such as Polytechnic University of the Philippines and Marikina Polytechnic College that have  been devastated by previous calamities and typhoons would not be given any much-needed attention and priority.

Instead, they would be left to fend for themselves at the expense of students and their parents. The P1.1 billion operations budget cut in SUCs will only lead to higher and more rampant tuition and other fee increases and the further commercialization of education. This is yet another pattern from the previous regime that the Aquino administration now chooses to uphold and continue.

As with the previous administration, we are instead once again disturbed by government’s misprioritization and mis-allocation of funds.

The 2011 proposed national budget allots an additional P80.9 billion to debt-servicing and interest payments. The P357.1 billion allocation for this purpose is the largest absolute increase in history.

Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense (DND) gets an increase from P96.2 billion to P104.7 billion, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) gets an additional P10 billion and the Philippine National Police (PNP) P6.6 billion more. As we see it, the education sector and the youth are clearly not this government’s top priority.

There is, more disturbingly, a significant increase in patronage and corruption-prone funds. Pork barrel funds have increased from P10.9 billion in 2010 to P24.8 billion in the proposed 2011 national budget. Dole-out funds will enjoy a whopping P29.2 billion. Ironically, lump-sum funds have been allotted for “public-private partnership support” when the president promised that so-called PPPs would lessen costs incurred by the government.

Furthermore, while the government boasts of an 18 percent “increase” in the budget for basic education, the proposed amount is still billions of pesos short from adequately addressing shortages.

At least P200 billion is needed in additional funds to create the 152 thousands classrooms, P95.5 Million textbooks and P103.5 thousands teachers we lack. The proposed P207 billion budget for basic education could only accommodate the construction of 18,000 new classrooms, procurement of 32 thousands textbooks and hiring of 10 thousand new teachers.

The superficial increase in the basic education budget accounts more for the government’s plans to fund the widely- opposed K-12 scheme instead of for the uplifting the country’s deteriorating basic education system.

We believe that the education budget cuts infringes on the right to education and the constitutional mandate of the government to make education accessible to all. It is tantamount to the government’s abandonment of its responsibility to guarantee every Filipino’s right to education.

We urge members of Congress to oppose the education budget cut and re-channel funds intended for debt-servicing, the military and corruption-prone patronage programs to the education sector.

We call on every youth, student, parent and advocates of quality and accessible education to unite and wage appropriate actions nationwide to oppose the P1.1 billion education budget cut and call for greater state subsidy for education.

We declare September 24 a National Walkout Day where we expect to gather thousands of youth and  students from different parts of the country to walk out of their classes, with the support of parents and advocates, to come together to defend every Filipino’s right to accessible education.

We challenge the Aquino administration to correct this travesty and reverse the long-standing policy of reducing state spending on education. We vow to commit all means within our reason and rights to stop the education budget cut because, as the president had eloquently stated, “Tayo ang kanyang boss.”

Initial Signatories

National Youth Formations

National Union of Students of the Philippines

College Editors Guild of the Philippines

League of Filipino Students

Anakbayan

KARATULA

Student Christian Movement

KABATAAN Partylist

Student Regents

Cori Alessa Co, University of the Philippines System Student Regent

Sheryl Alapad, Polytechnic University of the Philippines Student Regent

Mikko James Rodriguez, Philippine Normal University Student Regent

Student Councils/ Governments:

Eulogio Amang Rodriquez Institute of Science and Technology Institute Student Government

Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral

Araullo University -College of Law- Student Council

Central Luzon State University – University Supreme Student Council

La Fortuna College – Supreme Student Gouncil

Asian Institute of E-Commerce – Alliance of Peer Leaders

Provincial Manpower Training Center – Supreme Student Council

Eduardo L. Joson Memorial College – Supreme Student Council

College of Immaculate Conception – College Student Supreme Council

Good Samaritan Colleges – Supreme Student Council

ABE College of Business and Accountancy – Supreme Student Council

Midway Maritime Foundation Inc. – Supreme Student Council

AMA Computer College (Cabanatuan) – Student Society on Information Technology Education

Nueva Ecija University of Sciece and Technology – University Student Government

Wesleyan University – Philippines – Central Student Council

Araullo University Supreme Student Government

San Jose Christian Colleges – student Body Organization

STI Education Center – Supreme Student Council

Palayan City Institute of Technology – Supreme Student Council

First Asian International Systems College – Student Body Organization

Core Gateway College – Education Student Council

Laguna State Polytechnic University- Mechanical Engineering Society

Cavite State University- Indang College of Arts and Sciences- Students Committee

University of the Philippines-Diliman University Student Council

University of the Philippines-Diliman League of College Councils

University of the Philippines-Manila University Student Council

University of the Philippines- Baguio University Student Council

University of the Philippines- Extension Program in Pamapanga University Student Council

University of the Philippines- Baler Campus University Student Council

University of the Philippines- Visayas University Student Council

University of the Philippines- Cebu Campus Student Council

University of the Philippines- Miag-ao Campus Student Council

University of the Philippines- Tacloban Campus Student Council

University of the Philippines- Mindanao Campus Student Council

Philippine Normal University- Manila University Student Government

Philippine Normal University- Agusan Student Council

Philippine Normal University-Cadiz Student Council

Philippine Normal University-Isabela Student Council

Philippine Normal University-Quezon Student Council

Alliances:

Alliance of Concerned Students-Partido ng Demokratikong Mag-aaral (ACS-PDM), University of Northern Philippines in Vigan, Ilocos Sur

Nueva Ecija Colleges and Universities Student Councils Association

Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights- UP (STAND-UP)

Alliance of Students for Alternative Progress-Katipunan ng Demokratikong Mag-aaral (ASAP-KATIPUNAN)

Student Movement for a Democratic UP (MOVE-DEM)

Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP )

ANAK-PUP

National federation of Student Leaders in PNU