Budget Alert

EDUCATION is a fundamental building block of human development and is one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty, improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. In meeting the needs of the society, Education serves as focus of emphases of the leadership at certain periods in our national struggle as a race. That is why education, from basic to higher education remains a priority of the Aquino administration. It understands the concerns of teachers, students, and their parents, and has proposed the 2011 Reform Budget precisely to ensure that the education sector will receive the funds they need.

The education budget was actually increased from 15.6% (P240.59 billion) of the National Budget to 16.5% (P271.67 billion). However, the proposed State Universities and Colleges (SUC)budget for 2011 is P23.407 billion, or 11.3% of the total National Budget: higher than the P21.034 billion proposed in 2010. The increase is allotted for Personal Services (PS) to support the requirements of the Salary Standardization Law.

The priority of the national budget is education. However, even our country puts the largest portion of the budget to education, we have the smallest education budget among other ASEAN countries. Aquino assured that his administration would do everything to effect the changes it wants to achieve. LYN

The national budget proposed by the department of Budget and Management of the Philippines for 2011 is P1.645 trillion. According to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, P207.3 B will be allocated in the department of education, P110.6 B for Public works and Highways, P104.7 B to National Defense, P88.2 B for Interior and Local Government,  P37.7 B for Agriculture, P 34.4 B for Social welfare and Development, P33.3 B for Health, P 32.2 B for Transportation and Communication , P 16.7 B for Agrarian Reform , and P14.3 B for the judiciary. 

        The Budget for this year must be allocated efficiently and effectively. It must be used only for Public purposes and for solving economic issues or problems that our country is facing right now. Additionally, Our government must ensure that every centavo of this budget will all be use in improving the quality of life of every Filipino. The budget is not raised to be spend by some government officials for personal use but to provide public services to its people and to reduce poverty in our country. If this fund will be use wisely, our economy will surely grow. Thus, as our economy begin to expand, unemployment falls. This way, Unemployed Filipinos will be able to get jobs that will give them opportunity to earn enough money for their everyday needs. JAM

Underinvestment in social services, particularly in education and maternal health is one of the focuses of this year’s budget according to the budget secretary. This year’s budget is higher compared to last year’s budget. The P1.645 trillion budget of the Philippines for this year will be allotted for the different projects of the government. The increase in budget is said to be use in solving the dearth of lay-out on economic services such as power infrastructure and transportation systems. According to President Aquino, the budget will be use as a tool for social reform. This budget will be use in lifting the nation from poverty.

If we will take a look on the budget proposal, we can see that the amount of fund is divided according to the department who needs more fund. The department of education is given the highest portion of the budget. However, in my opinion, with this big budget given to the Department of Education, I am expecting that the literacy rate in the country will progress and the facilities in the public schools will also improve. Sad to say, I still can’t see any improvements in our education system. Next to education, infrastructure is next in the budget list. The administration is also prioritizing the infrastructure in our country; well I can see that there are road widening projects that are happening. Not to detail all the departments, we can see that the department given with the lowest amount of fund is the judiciary. Though this department is given the lowest amount of fund, it doesn’t mean that this department is the least priority of the government.

There are a lot of controversies that arose when this budget was implemented. Different departments showed that they were not satisfied with the amount of funds given to them. Though some protested, still this budget was followed. For me, it’s not actually the budget which matters most; it is how they will handle the budget that matters to me. If only the government will stop corruption and concentrate more in rendering public service, we can still see improvements despite the “low-budget” they are referring. CHA