Scientia Online

Scientists on Strike
By Andrea Ocampo

It all began with the budget proposed by the new government. As stated on the proposal, increases for the different allocations were made. One is for the military, with an increase by P8.5 billion to P104.7 billion. Increments in the pork barrel were also taken into consideration. There was also an increase on the government debt interest payments by P30 billion to P357 billion set, the biggest amount in history ever allocated for debts. The proposed budget showed another biggest amount in history: the P1.39 billion budget cut for UP.

Upon this discovery, hundreds of protesters, including students and faculty, walked out of their classes last November 25 and held an overnight vigil in opposition of the budget cut. A strike was also held in Mendiola the next day. The said strike is expected to continue until the President pays attention to the budget allocation.

“Totoo pong bumaba nang kaunti ang budget ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas… Nangyari lamang po ito sapagkat malinaw sa atin na may paraan na ang UP para dagdagan ang sarili nilang pondo,” President Benigno Aquino III said. USC chair, Rain Sindayen said that the President was basically stating that the government would be practically abandoning its responsibilities to tertiary education.

Many other State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) will be suffering similar cuts. A total of P 1.1 billion was reduced in the 2011 budget for the 97 operating SUCs. There also appeared no budget allocation of budget for the construction of new buildings and facilities in these colleges.

Officials of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) announced that they would continually hold campus strikes. These are to urge the government to allocate sufficient funds for the operation of the different State Universities and Colleges. Early on, it was alleged that an increase in the budget was received by other schools but apparently this amount was meant only for the increase in the teachers’ salaries due to the Salary Standardization Law; not much else would be used for the improvement of the said schools.

There was no cut in the budget allocation to SUCs, insisted Senator Finance Committee Chairman Franklin Drilon. He, however, noted that they retained the budget for the maintenance and operational expenses for the next year.