A MILITANT lawmaker yesterday slammed the Executive department for cutting the proposed budgets for the University of the Philippines (UP) System and the UP-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) for 2023, saying it “shows that the Marcos Jr. administration does not prioritize education especially one that hones critical and analytical thinking.”
Rep. France Castro (PL, Alliance of Concerned Teachers) questioned the decision of the administration of President Marcos Jr. to slash by P2.5 billion the proposed budget for the UP system, and by P893 million the proposed allocation of the UP-PGH.
The proposed P5.268 trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) was submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the House of Representatives last Monday.
In the money measure, the UP System has a proposed budget of P23.10 billion for 2023, an amount which is lower than this year’s P25.6 billion budget.
Castro said the education sector will only receive a total of P852.8 billion covering the Department of Education, state universities and colleges (SUCs), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
She noted that the amount is way below the 6 percent of Gross National Product (GNP) allocation that the United Nations said should be allocated for education “even if we use 2021 figures.”
“The supposed budget for education should be at least P1.3 trillion and not the measly P853 billion,” she said.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged Malacañang and Congress to restore the budget cuts of the UP System and the UP-PGH, saying the Marcos administration “would be sending the wrong message if it insists on cutting funding for UP and PGH.”
Rodriguez suggested that the DBM restore the UP and PGH budget reductions by sending a budget erratum or errata to the House which is set to scrutinize the budget proposal.
“They (Executive department) did that in the past. It is they who could easily make the necessary adjustments,” he said. “We should be increasing the budgetary allocations of state universities and colleges (SUCs), which are the poor student’s schools of choice, and government hospitals, which are the pauper’s go-to health facilities, instead of reducing their funds.”
The veteran lawyer-lawmaker also said depriving PGH of P893 million would mean cutting medical assistance funds and hospital requirements for treating people infected with COVID-19, especially since PGH is at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic.
MIRED IN DEBT
As the country is mired in debt once again largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, debt servicing will still get the biggest chunk of the P5.268 trillion proposed national budget for 2023.
“With the P1.35 trillion budget allocation for debt servicing through automatic appropriations versus the P852.8 billion for education, the administration of President Marcos, Jr. cannot say that it allocated the biggest chunk of the 2023 proposed budget to education,” Castro said.
Castro said an initial study of the DepEd budget for 2023 showed that items and programs that would directly impact the operations of schools and support teachers and students for the face-to-face classes will still have meager budget allocations.
She said the need to repeal the law on automatic appropriation for debt servicing has become more urgent as the public debt “has become an albatross for the nation.
“The country’s debt is bloated by revenue losses from trade liberalization, overly generous fiscal incentives for foreign investors, and the guarantee of profits as the government assumes contingent liabilities.” Castro said. “The Duterte administration left a P12.79 trillion debt, most of which did not even go to the COVID-19 response or other social services.”
Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo, senior vice chair of the committee on appropriations, noted that the administration will be borrowing P2.2 trillion next year to finance its programs and projects and will be paying the P611 billion for the loans of the previous administration.
Quimbo however said there is nothing unusual with the borrowings of the administration, especially since the national government is projected to earn some P3.6 trillion from taxes, fees and proceeds of privatization.
“Huwag po kayo masyadong ganung ka-worried, ganun talaga (Let’s not get too worried, it’s really like that.) That’s usual, within range po tayo (we’re witihin range),” Quimbo told a news forum at the House. “Kaya just to clarify 11 percent lang ng 5.268 trillion proposed for 2023 ang mapupunta po sa debt servicing (So just to clarify, only 11 percent of the P5.268 trillion proposed budget for 2023 will go to debt-servicing).”
Quimbo said the amount for debt servicing increased by one percent “because we needed to take out loans during the pandemic” under the Duterte administration.