PRESS RELEASE

Nationwide campus strikes set
Students, faculty, administrators push for higher budget for SUCs

September 7, 2011

Students, faculty and campus administrators trooped to the House of Representatives today in a “show of unity and force” as congress held hearings and plenary debates on the allocation for state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the 2012 budget.

Youth groups led by Anakbayan, Kabataan Partylist and National Union of Students of the Philippines, together with representatives from the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers conducted various activities inside and outside congress calling on congress to allocate higher budget for SUCs and oppose the administration-proposed cuts in the SUC budget for 2012.

While leaders lobbied inside congress and gave out statements, hundreds protested outside the congress main gate, with dozens shaving their heads in symbolic protest.

“Nakakalbo na ang SUC budget. Wala nang natira dahil sa kakatapyas at dahil sa maliit na alokasyon ng gubyerno,” said Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan national chairperson.

In the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2012 or the budget proposal submitted by the Aquino government to congress, P21.8 billion was allotted for 110 SUCs, far from the more than P60 billion requested by the SUCs. This is lower than the this year’s SUC budget of P22.03 million.

Fifty schools will have their total budget slashed by a combined P569.8 million, 45 will have cuts in their MOOE funds by P250.9 million, and 58 will have cuts in Personal Services (PS) by P403.3 million.

“It is not surprising that the ranking of our universities have dropped. The state is practically abandoning its responsibility to fund tertiary education and is instead pushing for higher tuition and fee rates. Makakalbo na kakaisip ang magulang saan kukuha ng pambayad pag ganyan,” he said.

Crisostomo called on congress to realign funds from debt spending, conditional cash transfer, military and dubious “intelligence” funds.

“They should correct the ‘weng-wang’ priorities of the administration,” he said.

The groups got the support of some neophyte congressmen led by Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino and Rep. JV Ejercito, who organized a lunch forum and promised to fight for higher funding for SUCs. However, Crisostomo said the may need more than this to get additional funds for SUCs.

“Malacanang appears to be stubborn with its proposal and is in fact railroading the budget process. In fact, the budget has been approved in the committee level in Congress without amendments. We must fight back with bigger and more effective protests,” he said.

Crisostomo said the various groups have agreed to hold a week-long nationwide campus strike on September 19-23.

“We will stop holding classes and close the schools. This is in defiance of a government which chooses to abandon education in favor of corruption, foreign and military spending. We will barricade the school gates for several days so that many may still be able to enter them and afford education in the future,” he said.