Students Walk Out, Decry Budget Cuts

About 700 students from state universities and colleges and public high schools in Metro Manila and the provinces walked out of their classes Sept. 24 to protest cuts on the proposed education budget. The students branded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as addicted to foreign loans.

By Ronalyn Olea 
Bulatlat

The total debt incurred by the Macapagal Arroyo administration in the past three years matched that of the Ramos and Estrada administrations combined, student leaders said.  Records show that from January 2001 to February 2004, there was a P1.2 trillion increase in the national government debt – P738.8 billion in domestic borrowings and P514.6 billion in foreign borrowings.

This is bigger than the P765 billion increase during the three-year term of former President Joseph Estrada and the P446 billion increase during the six year-term of former President Fidel Ramos.

Consolidated public debt

The consolidated public debt, which includes the debts of state-owned firms and local government units that were assumed by the government, reached P5.3 trillion.  As of end 2003, the government’s debt amounted to P3.256 trillion, of which P1.526 trillion were foreign loans.

In a rally, Rizza Ramirez, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) said, “Amid the fiscal crisis, Malacanang refuses to limit debt payments. On the other hand, it cuts back its real spending on education and other social services.  Macapagal-Arroyo is willing to squeeze out the sweat and blood of taxpayers to be able to pay and acquire more debts. ”

Debt interest payments will eat up 33 percent of the proposed national budget for 2005.  Including the payment for the principal, debt servicing alone will amount to P649.5 billion.  This is equivalent to 72 percent of the P907.7 billion proposed national budget.

Abdicating its responsibility

Meanwhile, the allocation for education and other social services is a pittance.  The Department of Education (DepEd) will receive a measly P111.04 billion.  This accounts for roughly 12 percent of the proposed national budget for 2005.  The DepEd’s capital outlay is pegged at P2.42 billion.

State universities and colleges (SUCs) will have to do with P16.85 billion.  Thirty-one SUCs will face budget cuts.  Ironically, the UP System, the premier state university, will suffer the biggest slash amounting to P67.9 million.

The PUP, which celebrates its centennial this year, faces a P2.6-million budget cut.

Education spending has dropped from 19.3 percent of total government expenditures in 1997 to 15.5 percent in 2004.  The average government spending on education per student is $170.  This pales in comparison to Thailand ($550) and Malaysia ($930).

Meanwhile, the proposed allocation for the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of National Defense (DND) is higher.    The combined allotment for the two agencies will amount to P90billion, much higher than the proposed budget for SUCs.

Ramirez said, “An upright government spends taxpayers’ money, however little is left of it, to services beneficial to the people.  Sadly, the Macapagal-Arroyo government is too illogical and immoral.  It prioritizes foreign debt servicing over education and other social services.  She is deliberately abdicating on the state’s responsibility of providing quality education to the Filipino youth.”

As it is, the NUSP is already alarmed over the 73-percent drop-out rate in tertiary education. Based on Wallace Report last June, of 100 who enter primary school, only seven shall be able to finish college.

At present, there are 1.7 million children aged 7 – 12 years who are not in school because of poverty. 

Apolinario Alvarez, Anak ng Bayan national president said, “Now is the time to act and save the education sector from its own crisis and imminent collapse.“

Alvarez said that education has long been a casualty of globalization policies which have shaken the sector for decades. He pointed out that we have an unbalanced budget, a ballooning debt and unmanageable deficit because of the government’s faithful adherence to International Monetary Fund (IMF) impositions, which push for debt payments and massive cutbacks in social services such as education.

Fiscal crisis

Alvarez said, “Hindi solusyon and pagtitipid, pagpataw ng mga bagong buwis at pagkaltas sa badyet sa edukasyon. Kahibangan ang ideyang dapat magsakripisyo ang mamamayan dahil matagal nang naghihirap ang mamamayan.”  (Austerity measures, taxes and cutbacks on education spending will not solve the crisis.  It’s a foolish idea to demand the people to sacrifice because the people have long been suffering)

The youth leader pointed out the fiscal crisis is an inherent characteristic of a semi-feudal economy.  Alvarez said, “Ang paglalantad ng krisis ng mga burges na intelektwal at pag-amin mismo ng gobyerno ay may pinatotohanan.  Wasto, makatwirang igiit ang pambansa demokratikong pakikibaka bilang solusyon sa problema” (The imminence of the fiscal crisis, which was exposed by bourgeois economists, and the government’s own admission of it proves an important point. It is correct and just to push for the national democratic struggle as a solution to the country’s problems).

Alvarez called on the students to re-learn the lessons put forward by the book, Philippine Society and Revolution (PSR), written by Amado Guerrero.  “Ang PSR ang naging gabay ng mga kabataan noon para unawain ang lipunan at alamin ang alternatiba sa krisis ng lipunang Pilipino” (The Philippine Society and Revolution historically served as the guide of the youth in understanding society and the solutions to the crisis confronting Philippine society).

He said that the fight for accessible and quality education is but a part of the long-term struggle of the Filipino people for its national democratic interests.  Bulatlat

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