Proposed
2004 National Budget:
A Sign of Insecurity
That
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Strong Republic is desperately trying to
rebuild itself after the July 27 Oakwood incident is seen from the
administration’s proposed national budget for 2004.
BY
RONALYN OLEA
Bulatlat.com
Salary adjustment
The
proposed P865-billion budget, 6.6 percent higher than 2003 budget of P811.5
billion, allots P3.5 billion for the full implementation of the salary
adjustment of officers and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
It can be recalled that the junior officers involved in the Oakwood
incident decried the low pay being received by soldiers.
Never
mind other government employees who have been denied salary increases since
Macapagal-Arroyo was catapulted to power. The Conferederation for the Unity,
Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) has in fact been
lobbying for several years now for a P3,000-salary hike but their demand
continues to fall on deaf ears. The
government has also up to now failed to release the teachers’ cost of living
allowance (COLA) from 1989 to 1999.
Furthermore,
it is interesting to compare how much lower a teacher’s salary is than a
soldier’s. A public school
teacher with the item Teacher 1 (Salary Grade 10) only receives a gross pay of
P9,939 ($183.21) monthly, already equivalent to a private’s salary.
A
chief master sergeant on the other hand has the same salary as the district
supervisor II of Department of Education and Sports (Dep-Ed). The master
sergeant need only be a high school graduate while Dep-Ed supervisors and
principals have masteral degrees.
In
addition, an assistant professor 1 at the college level belongs to the same
salary grade of a chief m/sgt and district supervisor II (salary grade 18) and
consequently receives a gross monthly pay of P15,841 ($292).
A
cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) belongs to Salary Grade 19 and
receives an even higher “subsistence allowance” than the District Supervisor
who, aside from being an MA degree holder, has served the government at least 15
years.
These
figures show the distorted priorities of the present administration and the
depth of its paranoia for another “Oakwood.”
Intelligence
funds
The
Malacañang’s total budget for intelligence in 2004 is close to P2 billion. If approved, next year’s intelligence funds will get an
increase of P744 million.
The
budget is carved up as follow: Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (ISAFP), P265 million; Philippine Air Force (PAF), P56.4 million;
Philippine Navy (PN), P176.5 million; Philippine Army (PA), 110.2 million.
PNP
intelligence service, P351.8 million; National Security Council, P51 million;
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, P258 million; and the Presidential
Anti-Organized Crime Commission, P580 million.
Intelligence
funds are not subjected to stringent government auditing.
Pampering the PMA
The
Macapagal-Arroyo government has earmarked P557.9 million for the country’s
premiere military school, or a P22-million budget hike. This translates to
P2.128 million for every PMA student.
The
state-run Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the second largest
university in the country with a 60,000-student population, gets only P542.71
million under the proposed budget.
The
amount allotted for a PMA cadet could already allow 55 PUP students to finish a
four-year course.
Meanwhile,
students of Philippine Normal University will have to manage with a measly
P239.86-million budget. Apparently, the Macapagal-Arroyo government is more
interested in producing ‘good’ soldiers than badly needed teachers.
Corruption-ridden
AFP
Despite
anomalies, Malacañang seeks to allot P4.92 billion for the AFP next year,
roughly P200 million more than the present allocation.
Ex-Capt.
Rene N. Jarque, PA, an expert in Psychological Operations, cited in his
paper “Reforming the Military” the various graft and corrupt practices of
the AFP. Some of which were also
revealed by the Oakwood mutineers in different public hearings.
Jarque
mentioned “normal” practices such as commissions, kickbacks, overpricing,
padding, substitution, rigged biddings, under-delivery and ghost delivery of
supplies.
Defense
Top
3 in terms of budget allocation is the Department of National Defense with P45.2
billion.
Next
to it is the Department of Interior and Local Government with P43.9 billion. A big chunk of this – a whopping P35.2 billion – is to be
allotted for the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Wrong
priorities
Malacañang’s
briefing paper on the proposed budget states that the administration’s
priorities are: eliminating graft and corruption, ensuring peace and order, and
providing for basic social services.
However,
the health budget for 2004 is only P9. 75 billion, P154 million lower than the
present one. While the United
Nations Development Program standard for health spending is five percent of a
country's gross national product, the Philippines spends only 0.4 percent for
health services, House of Representatives Minority Floor Leader Carlos Padilla
revealed.
With
an 83-million population, the government will spend P117.47 for every Filipino
for the whole year or 32 cents per day.
The
education department, meanwhile, gets P107.5 billion, a meager 12.43 percent of
the national budget.
State
colleges and universities will only have P15.68 billion. Malacañang also
proposes a P30.19-million cut in the budget of state universities and colleges
which would affect 680,000 students.
The
Department of Education (DepEd) itself admits that it lacks 49,212 teachers,
39,383 classrooms, 4.1 million seats and 9.9 million textbooks.
While
the UN standard for education spending is six percent of a country’s gross
domestic product, the Philippines allots only 2.2 percent for education. Bulatlat.com
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