Restoration of SUCs’ budget cuts pressed
A resolution urging the House Committee on Appropriations to restore the cuts on the budget of some State University and Colleges (SUCs) has been filed.
The Makabayan bloc, composed of Kabataan, Gabriela and ACT Teacher party-lists, expressed disappointment over the big cuts on the SUCs budget which will have effects on the education of the students particularly those less fortunate.
Notably, 30 out of 118 SUCs are set to incur cuts in their overall budget, wherein 10 SUCs have cuts to their Personnel Services, 39 SUCs have cuts to their operating budgets, and 36 SUCs have cuts to their Capital Outlay.
Despite a net increase for Personnel Services (PS) in the 2024 proposed budget for SUCs, there were still cuts for PS in 10 SUCs totaling ?253.496 million.
Meanwhile, 39 SUCs will also sustain big cuts in their budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) totalling ?2,373.123 million.
Finally, 36 SUCs will also sustain big cuts in their budget for capital outlay (CO) totalling ?10.755 million.
Despite the passage of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Law, the Department of Budget and Management expects the country’s 116 SUCs to earn a total of ?47,948,362,000 in combined internal income, including fees collected from students. ?18,830,086,000 will be sourced from tuition collection while ?7,186,759,000 will be from other income collected from students.
The House of Representatives completed the plenary discussion and debates for the budget of SUCs, amounting only to P100.88 billion. The amount is 5 percent less than this year’s P107.03 billion.
The SUCs requested about P331.3 billion but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) granted P100.88 billion.
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