DBM eyes P2-B budget cut for UP

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is proposing a P2-billion cut in the budget of the University of the Philippines system next year.

Based on the 2016 National Expenditure Program (NEP) submitted to Congress, the government only proposed a budget of P11.465 billion for UP, significantly lower than this year’s P13.701 billion.

The decrease is attributed to a lower budget proposal for capital outlay, which dropped from P4.606 billion this year to P1.144 billion next year.

Capital outlay appropriations are used to finance the construction of new buildings and other similar projects.

Meanwhile, the DBM proposed increases in the university’s personnel services and maintenance and other operating expenses, from P6.636 billion to P7.6 billion and P2.458 to P2.719 billion, respectively.

The entire budget of the university covers the operations of all of its eight constituent campuses across the country, as well as of the Philippine General Hospital, which is attached to UP Manila.

DBM proposed a slight increase in the budget of UP for medical services, from P2.57 billion this year to P2.102 billion next year.

Among the projects included in the 2016 NEP include the construction of new buildings and laboratories in UP Visayas and UP Cebu, as well as the construction of the Philippine Genome Center for Agriculture and the Philippine National Collection of Micro-organisms in UP Los Baños.

The DBM also provided appropriations for the establishment of the Center for Agri-Fisheries and Biosystems Mechanization, Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation Center, and the Nursery for Indigenous and Endemic Plants from the Marine Science Institute.

The university has yet to comment on the decision of the DBM to propose a lower budget for the university.