Students stage 'nationwide walkout' vs education budget cuts

An estimated 1,200 students walked out of their classes on Friday from various schools in Metro Manila to protest the “inadequate state subsidy" for state colleges and universities (SUCs), denouncing the Aquino administration for its “abandonment of the education sector." Meanwhile, simultaneous actions also took place in other schools outside Metro Manila, organized by the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), against “the state’s abandonment of its responsibility to ensure quality and accessible education for the youth." Several hundred students walked out of their classes in Ilocos, Baguio, Bicol, Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao, among others, to join the nationwide protest action, according to NUSP. In his August 24 address to Congress, Aquino stated that P23.4 billion had been allocated for the country’s 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) in 2011, a figure 1.7 percent lower than the P23.8 billion budget for 2010. “We are gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent, given their ability to raise their income and to utilize it for their programs and projects," said Aquino in his 2011 budget message. But in a Thursday press release, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said that the budget for SUCs is actually “higher by P2.4 billion or 11.3% as compared to its budget in 2010, primarily due to the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law III." Still, the budget allotted for SUCs is clearly inadequate for their operations, said Kabataan party list (KPL) Rep. Raymond “Mong" Palatino, who also joined the rally. The fact that Aquino and the DBM couldn’t even keep track of their allocation for SUCs indicates “inefficiency," said Palatino. “Inconsistent sila, mali-mali ang sinasabi. Nakikita din natin sa confusion nila sa datos na hindi nila talaga priority ang education." (They are inconsistent, and keep saying the wrong things. We can also see from their confusion about the data that education isn’t a real priority for them.)
Peaceful demonstration Students gathered at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in the early afternoon and marched across Chino Roces bridge to Mendiola, where a police barricade was waiting. A brief scuffle ensued as students pushed down barbed-wire barricades, although they didn’t go beyond the closed gates of the Mendiola peace arc, which blocked the road to Malacañang. At least 20 policemen were deployed to the rally, which culminated with the burning by protesters of an effigy of President Benigno Aquino III. Overall, the demonstration was largely peaceful, said the organizers. Students from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, UP Manila, the Philippine Normal University (PNU), and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) took the lead in the Metro Manila action, along with militant youth organizations such as the League of Filipino Students and Anakbayan. UP and PNU are among the top five SUCs set to receive the largest budget cuts. The budgets for UP and PNU will be reduced by P1.39 billion, a decrease of 20.11 percent from 2010 to 2011; and P91.35 million, a 23.59 percent decrease, respectively. The other three schools in the list are Aurora State College of Technology, with a 22.21 percent budget decrease; Cerilles State College, with its budget slashed by 21.95 percent, and the University of Southeastern Philippines, with a budget cut of 20.03 percent. Dwindling state subsidy The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends that six percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) be allotted to the education sector. Based on the UNESCO standard, and measured against the Philippines’ GDP for 2009, the budget for the education sector should be around P460 billion. However, the Aquino administration has allocated P207.3 billion for the Department of Education and P23.4 billion for SUCs, a total of only P230.7 billion. Also, according to KPL data, the “real value" of state subsidy for education has dwindled steadily over the past decade, based on the 2000 consumer price index. Conversely, the total revenue generated by SUCs from tuition and other student fees has sharply risen, from P1.16 billion in 2000 to P7.78 billion in 2010, according to KPL. The party list’s figures show that a decade ago, only 6.6 percent of SUC’s budget came from the students; today, the tuition and other fees paid by students account for 22.1 percent of the budget of SUCs. These measures by school administrations to internally generate their own income are a “betrayal" of students, UP Student Regent Cori Co said. “Nakakahiya na niyayakap ng mga administrasyon ng SUCs ang ganitong prinsipyo ng estado ng pag-abandona sa edukasyon," said Co. (It is embarrassing that the administrations of SUCs are embracing this principle of state abandonment of education.) “Aquino throws around euphemisms like ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘financial independence’ to cloak the government’s shortcomings in passing on its responsibility to private entities, at the risk of limiting public access to quality education," stated the Philippine Collegian, UP’s official publication, in an editorial distributed during the rally. Tertiary education as a right Budget secretary Florencio Abad explained in a statement however that “with scarce public funds available, the government had to prioritize closing the resource gaps in basic education, among others." “While I too desire more subsidies for SUCs, our government is hard-pressed to fund other important needs such as basic education," Abad added. The Aquino administration has increased the DepEd budget from P185.5 billion in 2010 to P207.3 billion in 2011. But Palatino and Co disagreed with Abad, insisting that there should be no distinction between basic and tertiary education, because they are both for the public good. “An investment in higher education is an investment in our economy and a commitment to improving our human capital," the Kabataan party-list lawmaker said. For her part, Co said that higher education should not be merely a privilege for those who can afford it, but should be “accessible to the poor."—JV, GMANews.TV