PRESS RELEASE
Sept 15, 2010
“The 2010 proposed budget of the Aquino administration is no reform budget. It is no different from the nine years of Arroyo appropriations where spending in education and social services are severely curtailed.”
This was the statement of Terry Ridon, Chairperson of the League of Filipino Students as militant students led by the LFS stormed the gates of Malacanang to protest the slashing of state subsidies in state colleges and universities, healthcare, land reform, and even the judiciary.
Ridon said that it appears that the budget priorities of the Aquino government is focused on playing patronage to the AFP, with the marked increase in its appropriations despite still unresolved issues on its direct role in the extrajudicial executions of activists during the Arroyo years.
He also said that the Aquino government had entered into several loan agreements with international financing institutions which Filipino taxpayers will pay in the next decades, to fund ineffective dole-out programs for the poor.
He attributed the meager spending on education and social services to the ‘slavish reliance’ of the government to foreign loans, which perennially takes the biggest share in the yearly government budget.
“If Noynoy really wants the country to develop, he ought to fully fund education and basic social services, not on further arming the AFP which has used its budget to execute activists, and grab generous shares into the pockets of high AFP officials.” (Bulatlat.com)
Reference:
Terry Ridon
LFS Chairperson
