Robredo urges gov’t to allocate more funds for science, technology

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government should allocate more budget for science and technology, Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday, as the country continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

“Iyong sa akin, kung mayroon man akong ninanais, ito sanang nangyayari sa atin ngayon maging eye-opener sa pamahalaan—hindi lang sa Executive pero siguro lalo na sa Kongreso—na taasan iyong budget sa science and technology, kasi ito talaga iyong parating napapabayaan,” she said on her radio program BISErbisyong Leni.

(For me, I want this situation that is happening to us right now to serve as an eye-opener to the government — not only to the Executive branch but most especially to Congress — to increase the budget for science and technology, because these are always neglected.)

President Rodrigo Duterte recently raised the reward money for the discovery of a vaccine against coronavirus disease from P10 million to P50 million.

“Alam naman natin na iyong pagdiskubre ng vaccine ay hindi lang iyong husay ng magdidiskubre, pero gamit din saka suporta,” the vice president said.

(We know that the discovery of the vaccine does not only rely on the brilliance of the discoverer, but also on equipment and support.)

Robredo said the country has many excellent Filipino scientists but they don’t get enough support from the government.

“Ang dami nating mahuhusay na scientists. Sa kasamaang palad, hindi lang talaga enough iyong suporta sa kanila. So siguro ito… ito iyong aral, ito iyong leksyon na dapat makuha natin, kung gaano kaimportante,” she said.

(We have many great scientists. Unfortunately, they don’t get enough support. So maybe this is this lesson that we need to learn, how important this is.)

Scientists all over the world are currently racing against the clock in developing cure for the viral disease to address the global health crisis.

“Kapag nagkakaroon ng ganitong sakuna, saka natin nare-realize kung gaano siya kahalaga. So iyong sa akin, siyempre parati nating gusto na mayroong… mayroong discovery na manggaling sa atin, pero tingin ko iyong mas hihigit pa diyan, iyong suporta pagkatapos nito,” Robredo said.

(When something catastrophic like this happens, I hope we realize how important support to the sciences is. For me, of course we would like to have a discovery that would come from our country, but what’s more important is the support when this is all over.)