P8,000 Daily for a PMA Cadet; a Paltry P43 for the State Scholar
Unlike all other state universities and colleges (SCUs), the Philippine
Military Academy (PMA) remains the learning institution most favored by
government. While the budget of the SCUs has been slashed anew
several-fold this year, that of the PMA has been increased.
By Ronalyn Olea
Bulatlat
PMA cadets in
drill |
Compared to all other
state universities and colleges (SCUs), the Philippine Military Academy (PMA)
remains the learning institution most favored by government. Along with
the Department of Education (DepEd), the SCUs have their new budgets
slashed several-fold.
The PMA, as expected,
has no budget cut; its allocation has in fact been increased – from
P557.92 million last year to P568.17 million this year. In the proposed
budget, the PMA cadet is subsidized with P12 million for a four-year
course or roughly P8,219 a day; his counterpart at the state Polytechnic
University of the Philippines (PUP) has a measly P43 a day or only 0.52
percent of the PMA cadet’s daily subsidy.
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The PMA produces the
country’s military elite but its professional hierarchy in the armed
forces has been wracked by graft scandals, mutinous tendencies and human
rights violations. This has not deterred the current presidency – and its
predecessors – from showering both the military and national police with
fat salary increases and other high budget allocations, however.
Speaking at a rally of
about 1,000 students in Mendiola, Manila on Feb. 14, Rizza Ramirez,
national president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP),
asked: “Is this government more interested in producing corrupt military
officials than professionals and teachers much needed by the country?
While this government spends huge amounts of money in launching its war in
Mindanao, the Filipino students suffer from dilapidated facilities,
tuition and miscellaneous fee hikes and low quality of education.”
The Valentine’s Day
rally, joined by students from SCUs and public high schools, called
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a “heartless mother.” The state
scholars and other rallyers lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo government for
cutting education expenditures mercilessly in favor of debt servicing and
military expenditures.
In the proposed
national budget for this year, 33.6 percent goes to interest payments
amounting to P301.69 billion, Ramirez said. The combined allocation for
debt servicing, including the payment for the principal debt, accounts for
more than 70 percent of the national budget. The country has now incurred
a $60 billion foreign debt.
Moreover, P1.2 billion
will be allotted for intelligence funds this year. The Office of the
President will get P650 million. The intelligence fund earmarked for the
Philippine National Police (PNP) is P270 million; Department of National
Defense (DND), P111.5 million; and National Intelligence Coordinating
Agency (NICA), P31.24 million.
The budget of the DND
this year amounts to P43.6 billion. The Department of the Interior and
Local Government (DILG) will get P46.04 billion.
Anti-VAT, too
Ramirez, a college
senior from the University of the Philippines (UP), also opposed the
imposition of a hike on the Value-Added Tax (VAT) saying taxes do not
translate to social services such as education, health and housing.
“Isn’t it appalling
for Ms. Macapagal-Arroyo to tax anew the poor majority so as not to
default on debt payments? The Filipino youth and the people in general do
not get their fair share in the nation’s wealth. The national budget for
this year reveals so much about her real priorities,” the NUSP president
said
Overall, education
spending remains a pittance compared to debt servicing and military
expenditures. For the first time, the Department of Education (DepEd) will
suffer a budget slash of P4.6 billion from last year’s allocation. The
reduction is expected to even aggravate the public education crisis in
terms of shortages in classrooms, desks, textbooks and teachers.
SCUs will have to do
with P950 million less than the previous allocation. The UP budget will
bear the biggest slash amounting to P355.64 million. (See table below)
Because of the reduced
subsidies, SCUs are even more compelled to increase tuition and other
fees.
In UP, tuition
increases have been imposed even under the Socialized Tuition and
Financial Assistance Program (STFAP). While in 1989, tuition was pegged
at P17 per unit today it stands at P300 per unit. In 2001, tuition in the
UP graduate school increased from P300 per unit to P500-P700 per unit. In
the state university’s five units, laboratory fees have also been jacked
up. From the previous P0.00 to P50, these fees were increased to P500 to
P600.
Processing fees
Meanwhile, in PUP
processing fees were hiked by 67 to 100 percent. The PUP administration
also plans to increase tuition from P12 per unit to P88 per unit. The
Philippine Normal University (PNU) also increased its tuition by 400
percent in 2003.
Regional state
universities also suffer tuition and other fee increases. In Central
Luzon State University (CLSU), for example, tuition and miscellaneous fees
were hiked by 298 percent. At the Aklan Polytechnic Institute, tuition
will increase by 400 percent in the next four years. The Ramon Magsaysay
Technological University (RMTU) in Zambales raised its tuition from P80 to
P150 per unit last year. A P200 development fee is also collected from
the students.
The Mindanao State
University in General Santos City will raise its tuition from P50 to P150
per unit. The University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) in Samar will also
implement a tuition hike, from P40 per unit to P150 per unit.
The budgets cuts have
reportedly driven thousands of state scholars from registering at the SCUs
anymore because of higher tuition. They either join the increasing army of
college dropouts or, particularly those whose families can afford it,
enroll for two-year technical or vocational courses in quest of a job
abroad.
Meanwhile, about
10,000 students from the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) in Manila
walked out of their classes on Feb. 14. Wearing black, the students
opposed the proposal to change the name of the university to Malayan
Institute.
MIT, a top engineering
school, is owned by the Yuchengco Group of Companies. The Yuchengcos own
the Malayan Insurance and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, among
others. The school is listed among the top 1,000 corporations in 2003
with P28.7-million profit. Bulatlat
|
2004 |
Congress |
Senate |
Budget Cut* |
DepEd |
P107.50B |
P102.63B |
P102.9 B |
P4.6 B |
SUCs |
P16.67B |
P15.712 B |
P15.720B |
P950M |
UP |
P4.519B |
P4.162B |
P4.164B |
P355.64M |
PUP |
P547.956M |
P512.339M |
P514.387M |
P33.57M |
PNU |
P243.185M |
P232.532M |
P232.532M |
P10.65M |
PMA |
P557.92M |
P568.17M |
P568.17M |
No cut |
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