Student union condemns PNoys exclusivist 2014 budget; Calls to genuinely rechannel pork barrel to education, social services

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) condemns in the highest degree the anti-student, anti-youth and anti-people 2014 budget of the Aquino regime. Touted as a supposed budget for inclusive development, the 2014 National Expenditure Program excludes rather than includes the majority of Filipinos from public fund and from basic social services. While the budget for education, health, employment and social welfare seemingly increased by 20%, the fact remains that such increase is merely nominal and largely insufficient to address the needs of the social services sectors. Moreover, the budget is deceptive as it has allotted more to privatization projects rather than to what the people really need, exclaims Mr. Victor Villanueva, NUSP National President. The proposed budget for 2014 amounts to P2.268 trillion, which is 13.1% or P262.1 billion higher than the 2013 budget. However, this big an amount, again, is being misappropriated by the Aquino government. Instead of social services, the 2014 budget is a budget for (1) debt servicing, (2) privatization, (3) corruption, (4) state terrorism, and (5) abandonment of social services, emphasizes Ms. Sheryl Alapad, NUSP National Secretary General. NUSP denounces the continued prioritization by the Aquino regime of debt service. Instead of prioritizing social services, Aquino s top priority is debt servicing and additional borrowings. A whopping P1.06 trillion is allocated for debt service, which is 14.3% of the projected gross domestic product (GDP). This is very distant from the dismal 4.3% GDP share of the education sector. And due to additional borrowings, the government stands to incur P1.14 trillion in debt for 2014, further bloating the outstanding debt to P6.32 trillion. Privatization also dominates the 2014 budget. Many misconstrue that the budget in a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme or project comes from the private sector alone. However, under the PPP, the government spends and it spends a lot. In fact, in the 2014 budget, there are 21 PPP projects amounting to around P200 billion, to be partly financed by the government. Examples of which are the P29.8 billion allocation for transportation infrastructure development and the P1.6 billion for the amortization of classroom constructions under the PPP. While Aquino proclaims that he is anti-corruption, the 2014 budget is again proof that he is pro-corruption. The pork barrel, used at the discretion of congress representatives, senators and even the president himself, is largely not only a stamp pad for corruption but also an instrument for patronage politics. It is very troubling that despite the peoples clamour for the abolition of the pork barrel system, the Aquino government has increased lump sum funds like the PDAF (from P24.79 billion to P25.24 billion), MPBF (from

P69.09 billion to P80.7 billion), and unprogrammed funds (from P117.5 billion to P139.9 billion). We would like to underscore that public funds should be used directly for the publics general social welfare, and not out of the discretion of the ruling politicians, says Alapad. Further evidence of the misprioritization by the Aquino administration of the 2014 budget is the intensified allocation for militarization and state terrorism. For example, the government has increased by 43.8% the budget for the expanded Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (PAMANA) program, which is just a prettified name for state terrorism. It is worthy to note that year after year in Aquino s term, cases of human rights violations and enforced disappearances have increased, largely due to state terrorism. NUSP also denounces President Aquinos logic of abandonment of social services. In the education sector, for example, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approves a nominal increase of 1.9 billion, from the current 32.8 billion to 34.7 billion in 2014. However, in spite of the propagandized increase, 79 out of 110 state universities and colleges (SUCs) will be suffering from budget cuts in 2014, some due to lower personnel services (PS), others due to lower maintenance and other operating expenditure (MOOE), and many due to zero capital outlay (CO). The gradual budget reductions ultimately mean abandonment by the government. There is actually no significant increase in the budget of SUCs. Three years in a row, SUCs suffered from budget cuts and from the imposition of tuition and other school fees increases. This is in line with Aquino s Road Map to Public Higher Education Reforms (RPHER), which aims to rationalize SUCs, meaning to eventually abandon state funding and urge them to generate internal income by 50% of their budget. While Aquino boasted in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that education is his top priority, the figures and data for the education budget of SUCs show otherwise. The top 10 SUCs to receive budget slashes are: 1. University of the Philippines (P1,431,172,000), 2. Mindanao State University (P829,732,000), 3. MSU Iligan Institute of Technology (P116,442,000), 4. Isabela State University (P77,241,000), 5. MSU Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (P57,610,000), 6. Palawan State University (P36,541,000), 7. Negros Oriental State University (P31,411,000), 8. Western Visayas College of Science and Technology (P30,850,000), 9. Leyte Normal University (P30,677,000), and 10. Benguet State University (P29,907,000). The percentages of budget cuts range from -15.5 to -31.9: 1. Batanes State College (31.9%), 2. Mindanao State University (31.8%), 3. Leyte Normal University (20.7%), 4. Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (20.2%), 5. Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (19.5%), 6. Northwest Samar State University (18.1%), 7. Kalinga- Apayao State College (17.7%), 8. MSU Ilagan Institute of Technology (17.1%), 9. Palawan State University (15.5%), and 10. MSU Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (15.5%). There is an 18% increase in the budget for basic education, from P330.2 billion to P389.5 billion. But this remains insufficient to compensate for the implementation of the K to 12 program. Shortages are very telling:

classrooms (32,644), teachers (46,567), chairs (2,500,000), textbooks (60 million), and water and sanitation facilities (80,937). More so, even the Department of Education (DepEd) figures in 2011 tells that there is one public high school for every five elementary schools in the country. That is tantamount to 4.6 million schoolchildren who will not be able to enter high school. A budget insensitive to the needs of the people is a manifestation of President Aquino s lack of political will to genuinely address the legitimate concerns of the Filipino people. NUSP calls on students, youth, and student councils and organizations to be one with the people in unmasking the deceptive budget of the Aquino regime. Furthermore, we call on the government to prioritize education and basic social services, abolish the pork barrel system, and re-channel military and debt service budget to to social services, avers Villanueva. Now, more than ever, it is imperative for the youth and the students to strengthen our ranks and to stand up for our rights. Lets break the culture of silence and impunity as we conquer the old and new challenges of our generation. EDUCATION IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE! FIGHT FOR GREATER STATE SUBSIDY FOR SUCS, EDUCATION AND OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES! ABOLISH THE PORK BARREL SYSTEM AND END CORRUPTION!