(Second of 2 parts)
MANILA, Philippines – Many of the country’s state colleges and universities (SCUs) operate on “budgetary crumbs”.
This perhaps explains why, among other things, the performance of many of them leave much to be desired, as reflected in results of licensure examinations given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
The budgetary allocation for all the 113 tertiary institutions in 2009 is a measly P22.83 billion, up from only P13.64 billion in 2008.
Now, read this and weep: The least-endowed among the SCUs has a “droplet in the bucket” budget in 2009 of only P18.14 million. This “cellar-dweller” college in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) had an appropriation of P20.58 million in 2008 but it had been reduced this year.
Read on: The aggregate budgets of this tailender college and two others (one in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM and the other in Region 2) are less than the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” of just one member of the House of Representatives (P70 million).
Also, the aggregate budgets (P198.151 million) of the eight colleges with the least appropriations are less than the “pork barrel” of only one senator (P200 million). Moreover, of the 118 SCUs, only 24 have individual budgets of more than one senator’s pork barrel.
On the whole, almost a third (P7.028 billion) of the appropriations for the 113 SCUs in 2009 (P22.83 billion) goes to the University of the Philippines System (UPS), as reflected in the General Appropriations Act of 2009.
The budgetary system for SCUs has at times been described as a case of “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs,” considering that the lion’s share goes to UP.
But a close look at the system shows that “Snow White” (UP) is also a dwarf. Here’s why: The UP System’s budget (P7 billion) covers the allocations for its seven constituent universities scattered across the country.
The flagship campus is UP Diliman in Quezon City, which is recognized in public administration, law, social and marine sciences, the humanities, and urban and regional planning.
UP Manila (including the Philippine General Hospital or PGH) is the country’s premier academic institution in the health and medical sciences.
UP Los Baños specializes in Agriculture and Forestry, physical and social sciences, the humanities, and the arts.
UP Open University in Los Baños is the national “center of excellence” in distance education and open learning.
UP Baguio is in the highland city of Baguio.
UP Visayas is the center for fisheries and marine science education and research. It has four campuses: the main in Miag-ao, Iloilo; another in Iloilo City; in Tacloban City, Leyte; and in Cebu City.
The instruction, research, and community service programs of UP Mindanao in Davao City emphasize the comparative advantage, natural endowments, and development goals of Mindanao Island.
The school that got the second biggest appropriation from the overall SCU budget is Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City – P1.225 billion. Separately, the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology received P354.22 million while the MSU-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography was allotted P222.34 million.
Completing the list of the top 10 universities that received the biggest appropriations are Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Manila, P665.4 million; Bicol University, P447.26 million; Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) in Manila, P384.26 million; Isabela State University (ISU), P370.72 million; Western Visayas State University (MMSU) in Iloilo City, P316.7 million; Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU), in Ilocos Norte, P299.17 million; Philippine Normal University (PNU) in Manila, P284.93 million; and Cagayan State University (CSU), P267.7 million.
The aggregate budgets of the 10 universities (P11.88 billion) is a little more than half of the total budget (P22.83 billion) of the SCUs for 2009.
The remaining half is distributed among the 103 schools.
For some time now, the proliferation of SCUs has been criticized by some sectors, particularly the education community, lamenting that the government is spreading its resources too thinly by creating more tertiary institutions, some of which have been described as “glorified high schools.”
Some of these colleges are being planned to be elevated to the university level.
The increase in the number of SCUs has been attributed to the penchant of some legislators to create schools in their respective provinces, particularly in honor of people close to them.
Now, many of these schools are suffering the reason for their existence.