Students led by members of the League of Filipino Students and KABATAAN Partylist held a protest action at the House of Representatives (HOR) today to call for an increase in the budget of education and other basic services but were violently dispersed by HOR security.

The following is an appeal made by the LFS along with other student organizations and alliances to demand an increase in government budget to education:

An Appeal to Congress to Increase the Budget of State Colleges and Universities, Particularly Its Capital Outlay

I. Whereas, among the public infrastructure severely damaged by the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy are state colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, and Central Luzon, including the Marikina Polytechnic College

II. Whereas, among the public infrastructure severely damaged by the onslaught of Typhoon Pepeng are state colleges and universities in Northern Luzon, Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera Administrative Region

III. Whereas, State Colleges and Universities have pending budget proposals for already delayed construction of new buildings and acquisition of equipment, the effects of which include the overcrowding of dilapidated classrooms, laboratories and support facilities, and the deprivation of further knowledge production and transfer through the building of new facilities and the acquisition of new equipment

IV. Whereas, the proposed 2010 overall budget for SUCs have been reduced by P3.19 billion, from P21.23 billion in 2009 to a proposed P21.034 billion in 2010

V. Whereas, the content of the SUC budget reductions include providing zero capital outlay and a severe reduction of the SUCs Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE)

VI. Whereas, a clear example such budget reduction is the University of the Philippines, the proposed 2010 budget of which had been reduced by P2.09 billion for 2010, from P7.38 billion in 2009 to a proposed P5.29 billion for 2010.

VII. Whereas, the continuous infusion of government funding to SUCs, particularly on capital outlay, is in pursuance of the universally-accepted right to education and the constitutional provision mandating government to make higher education accessible to all Filipino youth

VIII. Whereas, the continuing deprivation of adequate funding for SUCs, including that of capital outlay, had been the primary causa for SUCs to embark on tuition and other fee increases, and other income-generating measures, operating similarly as private higher educational institutions

IX. Whereas, by embarking on tuition and other fee increases, and other income-generating measures due to the lack of adequate government funding, the universally-accepted right to education and the constitutional mandate for government to make higher education accessible to all shall be infringed

X. Whereas, while it had been a long-standing executive policy to encourage income-generation amid decreasing government funding for SUCs, Congress, in the exercise of its checking powers, may increase the funding for SUCs in order to arrest the infringement of the universally-accepted right to education and the constitutional mandate on government to make higher education accessible to all.

IN LIGHT OF ALL THESE, the following national student unions and organizations – National Union of Students of the Philippines, College Editors Guild of the Philippines League of Filipinos Students, ANAKBAYAN, Student Christian Movement, respectfully appeal to the legislators to increase the budget of all State Colleges and Universities, particularly their Capital Outlay.

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