UNSHELTERED A “lie-in” protest on UP Diliman campus on Friday decries the inadequate dormitories and rates deemed too steep for students from low-income families. ALEXIS CORPUZ
Vice President Jejomar Binay hit the Aquino administration on Thursday for not allocating enough resources for student housing facilities in the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines (UP).
Last week, a number of UP students camped out in open areas to wait for the administration’s decision on their appeal. Others joined student activists protesting the supposed lack of transparency in the process.
Reports said UP accepted 800 additional students this academic year, which resulted in problems in class registration and dorm applications. Students and faculty protesting the issue claimed that the UP administration accepted more students this year because of the K to 12 Program, which will result in fewer graduates in the next two years.
“As a UP graduate, I am both saddened and outraged by the dormitory crisis. I am sad that incoming freshmen had to go through this ordeal and outraged by the fact that the administration had P2.2 billion in unreleased budget for education,” Binay said.
Underspending?
Binay said the administration has been underspending. He claimed that P2.2 billion was “wasted” in 2014 despite the government’s so-called policy to cut funds for state colleges and universities.
He said the budget cuts have made it difficult for school administrators to “provide for basic needs of students.”
“The reason the school cannot build more dormitories is because their budget is not enough,” Binay said in Filipino.
Despite government officials claiming that social services have been getting the highest share in the annual budget, Binay claimed that it is still not enough.
“Our service sector is not sufficiently prioritized, including education. Because in the education sector, an expansive investment is needed,” he said.
The Binay camp said the budget of the UP system was “slashed four times” by the Aquino administration—in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.
From P13.14 billion in 2015, the Department of Budget and Management is proposing a P10.9 billion budget for UP in 2016. That is a big cut for one of the universities that produces the nation’s leaders and movers in various fields, Binay said.
The Vice President boasted that when he was still the Makati mayor, he prioritized education, making sure that facilities were up-to-date. He said 100 percent of graduates from the University of Makati are able to get jobs.
Binay is the presidential bet of the opposition party United Nationalist Alliance. He has been criticizing the government after he broke ties with Aquino and his Cabinet.
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