Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Patricia Licuanan yesterday expressed disappointment after the House of Representatives shaved P2 billion off her agency’s proposed P13.37 billion budget for 2017.
A total of P1 billion each was removed from the commission’s Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) and its K-12 transition programs.
In a statement, Licuanan called for the P2-billion to be restored, saying reducing the CHEd’s budget contradicts President Duterte’s 10-point agenda which “puts primacy on investments in human capital development.”
She pointed out the PCARI project was a continuing program since 2013 and its P1.763 budget was intended to support 131 post-doctoral scholars in Science and Engineering as well as fund 35 new research and development proposals. It involves 15 higher education institutions with collaborators at the University of California.
The K-12 transition program is intended to mitigate the effects of the program on the higher education sector from 2016 to 2021. —JEANNETTE G. ANDRADE