30 solons sign manifesto declaring cut restoration in education budget By Charlie V. Manalo 09/30/2010

30 solons sign manifesto declaring cut restoration in education budget

By Charlie V. Manalo
09/30/2010

A total of 30 House members from the majority, minority and progressive party-lists yesterday joined together to express their stand against the impending spate of budget cuts for SUCs holding on to the conviction that education is a right.

“We believe that higher education, in particular, is not merely a vehicle for private career development, but an instrument of social change. Higher education serves a public and social purpose. Contrary to neoliberal dictates, it is a public good, and thus, should not be left alone and vulnerable to free market forces and commercial interests,” solons said.

“Granted such premise, we affirm the idea that education, at all levels, is a right of everyone and a non-negotiable function of the State. It is imperative for the government to provide higher education to its citizens, and thus maintain and improve upon the quality and accessibility of higher education in public institutions.”

The allocation for the country’s SUC’s 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 percent. 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 percent. The Philippine Normal University’s budget is reduced by P92 million cut or by 23.59 percent. P88 million has been deducted from the budget of Bicol University cutting its budget by 18.82 percent..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100930nat1.html