Palace open to dialogue on SUC budget

Malacañang is open to holding dialogues with university officials and student leaders to explain that there was no cut in the overall budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs), a Palace spokesman said on Tuesday. In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said "Bukas po kami sa dialogo (We are open to dialogue)," adding that there was actually a "marked increase" in the budget for SUCs. He said Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Patricia Licuanan can explain the proposed national expenditure program for 2011 to those protesting against the supposed SUC budget cuts. "Maliban sa paliwanag mahalaga po na sana bukas po ang isip nila sa mga paliwanag. Hindi po kami nagtatago, wala po kaming tinatago. Lahat po ito ay nakasaad sa national expenditure program ng 2011," he said. (Aside from holding dialogues, it's important for them to be open-minded. We are not hiding anything. All of these is in the national expenditure program for 2011.) Lacierda reiterated President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III's earlier statement that the proposed P23.4-billion budget for SUCs for 2011 is actually higher than the P21 billion the Arroyo administration proposed for the year 2010. The 2010 allocation for SUCs that was stated in the 2010 General Appropriations Act rose to P23.845 billion due to P2.811 in congressional insertions. However, Lacierda pointed out that these insertions were actually not released because of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's veto message. "What happened to this P2.811 billion, the congressional insertions, were vetoed by President Arroyo in her veto message in the GAA because it did not provide a corresponding revenue support for this insertion and therefore kahit nakasulat yan sa GAA, nababasa ng taumbayan, hindi nagamit yung P2.811 billion sa budget," he said. (Even if it's written in the GAA and it's read by the public, that P2.811 billion in the budget was actually not used.) "We are free to discuss this (2011 national expenditure program) whole matter with them and go through every line there, every item," Lacierda said. Aquino and Abad had earlier appealed for understanding from militant students who have continuously taken to the streets to protest cuts in the budget for some SUCs. The budget for the University of the Philippines system, for example, went down from P6.9 billion in 2010 to the proposed P5.5 billion for 2011. “If only our fiscal situation was better, we could provide additional support for SUCs. We ask for understanding that because our resources are lacking, we had to prioritize other more urgent needs, such as in basic education where more poor students will benefit from," said Abad in a statement over the weekend. Abad said the current problem hounding the budget for SUCs stresses the need to introduce reforms in the higher education system. He said one possible direction is "through consolidation, having strong and focused centers of excellence and state university systems such as the University of the Philippines and the Mindanao State University rather than hundreds of individual SUCs." Abad said there are 110 SUCs, "many of which are not viable." When asked on Tuesday whether Abad's statement means that some SUCs would cease to exist, Lacierda said the CHED will study the matter. On Thursday, some 5,000 students from UP Diliman and UP Manila staged walkouts in protest of the lower budget for UP. Protest leaders said some members of the faculty and UP community expressed support for their "strike." In UP Diliman in Quezon City, around 3,000 protesting students set up a barricade along the University Avenue, blocking off the main entrance to the campus. The protest forced jeepneys and other vehicles to take alternative routes. A simultaneous strike was also held at the UP Manila campus in Padre Faura, where Senator Alan Peter Cayetano dropped by to give a message of support to some 2,000 students denouncing the budget cuts in the education sector. Youth groups are preparing an intensified protest action on December 1 as the Senate prepares to pass the 2011 budget. “It's shameful how these government officials lie to the millions of youth and students who will be gravely affected by their policies. Our opposition to budget cuts continue. We will show them on December 1 as we march to the Senate," UP Manila student council chairperson Ces Santos said. – VVP, GMANews.TV