Students Stand Firm, Insist SUC Budget Cuts Are Real

Students Stand Firm, Insist SUC Budget Cuts Are Real

With or without the removal of the congressional insertions, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said, the budget for SUCs would remain lower than last year’s. He said these congressional insertions were mainly allotted for scholarships and capital outlay while it is the SUCs MOOE that has suffered greatly from the budget cut. 

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Students from state universities and colleges (SUCs) stand firm that budget cuts are no ‘ghosts.’ But if by ghost, Sen. Franklin Drilon and Vicente Sotto III means an “evil monster,” Kilos na Laban sa Budget Cut, an alliance of students from state schools, said then they would agree that these ghosts are for real.

“How could they deny the budget cuts when it was the president himself who first broke the news, not the Kabataan Party or any student group,” Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino said during the December 1 protest action of SUC students in front of the Senate. They were referring to President Benigno S. Aquino III’s budget message dated August 24 where he said the government would be “gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent.”

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio joins students and teachers in protest rally against budget cut on education. (Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / bulatlat.com)

The Aquino administration has been criticized by youth and student groups for the massive slashing of the budget of SUCs amounting to P1.1 billion ($24.5 million at an exchange rate of $1 = P44.83). The largest group of students that gathered against the budget cut was on December 1, when thousands of students trooped to the Senate, which was then deliberating the proposed 2011 budget.

“We will not be cowed. We have a duty to our nation and we have a future to fight for,” Vencer Crisostomo, spokesperson of the Kilos Na Laban sa Budget Cut, said.

Ghosts
 
In a report, Budget Secretary Butch Abad denied that there would be budget cuts in SUCs in the proposed 2011 budget, adding that it is actually higher by P2.4 billion ($55.8 million) compared to last year. He added that there is an increase in the budget for personnel services because of the pending increase in teachers’ pay as mandated by the Salary Standardization Law 3, which was passed last Congress..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2010/12/04/students-stand-firm-suc-budget-cuts-not-ghosts