đź“·: Alliance of Concerned Teachers / FB
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines strongly condemns and opposes the proposed P3.34-billion budget cut to State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP). While the education sector suffers budget cuts, Marcos has set aside P10.8 billion for Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF) with P4.56 billion allotted for the Office of the President alone (accounting for 44.9% of total CIF) and an overall budget increase of P22 billion for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), P16 billion of which goes directly to the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Out of 113 SUCs nationwide, 49 will suffer direct budget slashes while 7 others will receive nominal increases of less than 1%.
The University of the Philippines (UP) System bears the single largest budget slash, losing nearly P2.95 billion – a move that directly cripples funding for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Specialized institutions also face severe cuts, including the Philippine Normal University (PNU) with a P394.9-million (-25.26%)cut and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) with a P291.8-million cut. Regional state colleges and universities also suffer devastating budget cuts, such as Mariano Marcos State University (-P506.3M), Isabela State University (-P229.3M), Biliran Province State University (-P210.9M) , and Leyte Normal University (-P160.4M), with many facing cuts near or exceeding 25%. This systematic starving of public schools aligns directly with the government’s push for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements in state universities, such as the National Teachers University (NUTE) bill aimed at commercializing PNU.
“Pinapatay ng gobyerno ang ating mga pampublikong pamantasan at kolehiyo habang ipinagmamayabang ang libre kunong edukasyon. Paano magiging libre at de-kalidad ang kolehiyo kung tinatapyasan nang bilyon-bilyon ang pondo ng UP, PUP, PNU, at mga pampublikong kolehiyo sa mga rehiyon? Ang pagtitipid sa edukasyon ay direktang pagkakait sa karapatan ng kabataang Pilipino na makapag-aral habang. Kasabay nito ang pagtalikod sa tungkuling bigyan ng disenteng sweldo at sapat na benepisyo ang mga guro at kawani, siguruhin ang regularisasyon ng mga kontraktwal na empleyado, pondohan ang makataong promosyon, at punan ang mga kakulangan lalo na sa mga guro at pasilidad sa mga kolehiyo at pamantasan,” Bernardo added.
ACT pointed out the stark contrast between austerity in education and the swelling budgets allocated to presidential discretionary funds, anti-insurgency programs, and state security forces.
“Habang binabawasan ang pondo ng edukasyon, busog na busog naman sa bilyun-bilyong confidential and intelligence funds ang Malacañang, DND at DILG para sa militarisasyon at panunupil. Hindi kakulangan sa pera ang problema ng bansa, kundi maling prayoridad. Ang pera ng bayan ay dapat napupunta sa serbisyong panlipunan, hindi sa bulsa ng mga pulitiko o pondo para dahasin ang mamamayan,” Bernardo asserted.
The group pressed lawmakers to immediately reject all proposed budget cuts, fully restore the P3.34-billion reduction across all 49 affected SUCs, junk all confidential funds, defund militaristic and discretionary programs, and reallocate public funds under to higher education and basic social services.#
