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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
UP-Visayas students join protest v. budget cut
STUDENTS of University of the Philippines-Visayas will join Tuesday the UP system-wide protest on the budget cut for education, which hit the country's premier state university the hardest.
From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, UPV students will hold a march protest around UPV Iloilo City Campus. It will be followed by a program at the UPV Quadrangle.
At 5 p.m., a multi-school cultural picket will be staged at Casa Plaza.
UP's budget for 2005 will be cut by almost P67 million. From P4.52 billion this year, UP may only get P4.45 billion next year.
"We, the Iskolar ng Bayan, cannot take this sitting down. We will not allow the government to steal our future. There is an urgent call for us to take the cudgels in pursuing higher budgetary allocation for education and to struggle for a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education," said Karen Edaniel, chairperson of Anakbayan and convenor of Education Watch in Iloilo.
According to records cited by Edaniel, for 2005, the Department of Budget and Management proposed to allocate P111.04 billion to the Department of Education. The amount accounts for only 11.68 percent of the P951-billion national budget for 2005.
The proposed budget for state universities and colleges (SUCs) is only P16.85 billion, even lower than 2003's P17.07 billion.
"Instead of educating the Filipino youth, the Arroyo administration further cut the education budget and used the fiscal crisis to call for austerity measures. The 2005 budget allotted for education is a pittance," Edaniel added.
(November 23, 2004 issue)
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