Outlay for UP a pittance–Pia Cayetano

The P400-million capital outlay for the University of the Philippines in 2014 is a “pittance,” especially since it has lost a source of its funding—the pork barrel of legislators, Sen. Pia Cayetano said Sunday.

In the House-approved P2.268-trillion 2014 national budget, the allocation for UP’s capital outlay was zero, but this was brought up to P400 million in the Senate version, Cayetano said.

During the period of amendments, Cayetano, Senate education committee chair, said she proposed a P1-billion capital outlay for UP’s various campuses and programs, but only P400 million was approved.

“Although I am grateful…this is still a pittance and negligible compared to the enormous requirements to continue developing UP’s facilities to international standards and improve the quality of education,” she said.

Cayetano, a UP alumna, said she found it unacceptable and unfair for UP to get a negligible amount for its capital outlay, when it is expected to continue to produce top-notch graduates from its various campuses.

She noted that UP’s ranking dropped to 380 this year from 345 in 2012 in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, while UP’s overall budget had only increased marginally in the past years.

“UP’s standing continues to suffer in the world university rankings, and yet we continue to allow its budget to be slashed every year,” she said.

This, she said, was inconsistent with President Aquino’s Public Higher Education Roadmap, which seeks to put leading state universities and colleges at par with international standards.—TJ Burgonio