Angara to SUCs: Generate income to fill schools' budget gaps

Senator Edgardo Angara on Thursday said state universities and colleges (SUCs) should generate income to fill schools' budget gaps due to insufficient government subsidy. "You've got to do your share to generate income. The government pie is not going to grow bigger," Angara, chairman of the Senate education committee, said during Thursday's hearing on the proposed budget of SUCs for 2012. Angara was president of the University of the Philippines (UP), a state university, from 1981 to 1987. Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Dr. Patricia Licuanan earlier said SUCs have an approved budget of P26 billion for 2012, although their proposed budget was P39 billion. However, Angara said SUCs must not depend on the state subsidy or tuition to survive. "There is a limit on how much we can raise the tuition," he said. The senator said SUCs can utilize their land grants to generate income. "Ang lalaki ng land holdings ng SUCs in the country, so that's one area," he said. "You must all learn how to generate funds from your land ownership--that's what lands grants are for, to raise extra money for operating expenses," Angara also said. Aside from this, he said SUCs can also try to attract foreign grants. However, Licuanan had also earlier said that they are already in negotiations with the Department of Budget and Management on how they can increase the budget for SUCs next year, which has been the call of several lawmakers and groups since the 2012 budget was proposed. UP's finances According to the financial statements of UP for the years 2008 and 2009 available on the website of the Commission on Audit, the state university earned, in both years, over P1 billion in income on top of the subsidy it got from the national government budget. “Total Other Income" of UP in 2009 was P1.447 billion while in 2008 it was P1.475 billion. Significant chunks of that, 25 percent in 2008 and 30 percent in 2009, were hospital fees of the Philippine General Hospital. Tuition fees UP collected were P357.785 million in 2008 and P351.584 million IN 2009. UP earned interest income of P281.862 million in 2008 and P307.204 million in 2009 while income from grants and donations were P228 .165 million in 2008 and P63.845 million in 2009. Resource management In June 1997, Congress, through Republic Act 8292 or the Higher Education Modernizaton Act, empowered the governing boards of SUCs to generate and manage their economic resources. The SUCs were authorized to, among others: - receive in trust legacies, gifts and donations of real and personal properties of all kinds, to administer and dispose the same when necessary for the benefit of the university or college, subject to limitations, directions and instructions of the donors, if any; - enter into joint ventures with business and industry for the profitable development and management of the economic assets of the college or institution, the proceeds from which to be used for the development and strengthening of the college or university; and - develop consortia and other forms of linkages with local government units, institutions and agencies, both public and private, local and foreign, in furtherance of the purposes and objectives of the institution. - VVP/ELR, GMA News