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8 students shave heads to protest low education budget

courtesy of Titus Tan, Chairperson of UP Kaisa

It included as one of the proposals our call for the Six will Fix! campaign.

It specifically includes item:

10. Pass a law Automatically Appropriating Funds to Education pegged at 6% of the GNP as prescribed for developing countries by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The proposal was embodied in House Bill 5423 filed in the 14th Congress.

The twelve proposals are:

The presentation is available below:

Presidentiables then responded favorably on the six will fix proposal:

Edwin Lacierda, spokesman of Liberal Party presidential candidate Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III, said in a telephone interview: “The education and health of our citizens is very important for him (Senator Aquino), so I think the automatic appropriation to them at specific rates would be amenable to him.”

According to Nacionalista Party spokesman, senatorial candidate and former Cavite Rep. Gilbert Cesar C. Remulla: “Senator Villar… agrees with appropriations for education, health and mass housing but… he has yet to study the specific rates for each.”

See the full news report here: http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=7769.

 Introduced by Honorable Carlos M. Padilla

Last October 14, 2008, known education champion Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla filed House Bill 5423, which effectively legislates an automatic appropriations for education pegged at 6% of the GNP. Committee on Public Information Chair Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who happens to be the father of National Youth Commission (NYC) Commissioner Princess Abante, and Committee on Food Security Chair Rep. Leonila Chavez, are co-authors of the bill.

The bill is now in the hands of the Committee on Appropriations, headed by Committee Chair Rep. Junie Cua and Vice Chair Rep. Edcel Lagman - the HoR’s primary debt champion.

Next stop: Senate!

Sk8 to Educate!: A Project of Youth Against Debt and United Antipolo

Youth Against Debt, Front-page in Malaya

Students from various state colleges and universities led by the Youth Against Debt (YAD) staged a noise barrage in front of the House of Representatives (HoR) today to demand higher state subsidy to public tertiary education in the proposed P 1.45 trillion 2009 National Government Budget. The said activity coincided with Congress’ deliberation of the respective budgets of state colleges and universities (SUCs) based in the National Capital Region.

Complete with whistles and noise gadgets, the student protestors from the University of the Philippines (UP), Philippine Normal University (PNU) and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) demanded from Congress an additional budget for higher education amounting to P 536.72 million covering P 47.82 million in additional budget for capital outlay and P 488.89 million worth of tuition subsidy to students belonging to 31 SUCs recognized as centers of excellence and development.

The group asserted the mere fact that these schools are recognized for their excellent service in providing quality public college education despite diminishing state support is enough reason to reward them with additional monetary allotment to augment their need to increase expenditure in education infrastructure.

On the other hand, YAD explained the tuition subsidy is a strong political statement from Congress that public tertiary education must become more accessible to the increasing number of tertiary education students entering the said schools especially in a time of a grueling global economic crisis.

Youth Against Debt Congress activity, captured online by GMAnews.tv.

The group is also urging Congress not to appropriate funds to dubious loan agreements in the 2009 budget and instead use the said funds as an alternative source of financing to realize the additional budget for higher education. 

YAD has identified the Social Expenditure Management Program (SEMP2), the Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project (SEDIP) and the Philippine Marine Merchant Academy (PMMA) Modernization Project as illegitimate debts incurred in the name of education which should not be honored by the Filipino people.

SEMP 2 and SEDIP’s allocation in the 2009 budget amounted to $.56 million and$ 2.298 million respectively. Conversely, PMMA has specific allocations of $ .86 million and $ 1.221 million.  

Students have accused the said projects of corruption, bribery as well as overpricing, providing defective products and blatant creditor negligence and undue intervention. YAD members raised the issue during Congress’ budget hearing of NCR SUCs. 

Likewise, the youth group re-echoed the call of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) for fiscal democracy in the entire budget process. YAD said any meaningful reform and progressive augmentation of social spending in the appropriations bill will be rendered meaningless unless the root issues of the problem are resolved. 

YAD said the challenge for Congress in the 2009 budget deliberations is build the necessary legislative political will to put an end to the religious payments of illegitimate debts by removing the automatic appropriations for debt service (Section 31-B) in the Revised Administrative Code of 1987. 

YAD is a close partner of the debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and a member of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI). ###

Congress had a taste of the “latest” protest action from the youth—skateboarding.

YAD Skaters Storm Congress

So it seems when about 50 members of the Youth Against Debt (YAD) staged a “creative action” in front of the main gate of the House of Representatives (HoR) coinciding with Congress’ budget deliberation of the 2009 education budget. The youth group protested the blatant violation of a widely accepted international benchmark on education spending in the proposed 1.415 trillion 2009 National Government.

Complete with ramps and rails, YAD activists sent their message across by performing skate tricks and inspired maneuvers to awed bystanders. Stephanie Tan, YAD Spokesperson said this specific form of action is a vindication that more and more youths of different predilections are accepting as fact that education in the Philippines is not that rosy.

“While our approach in protesting is somewhat new, our message is basically the same. We maintain education is still fundamentally suffering from a perennial lack of budgetary support,” Tan said. 

Tan said this is most evident in the proposed 2009 education budget wherein education spending on basic and tertiary levels is only 2.14 % of the country’s Gross National Product (GNP). The youth group asserted the proposed budget violated an international standard on education spending set in 1996 by the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headed by Jacques Delors.

The UNESCO Delors Benchmark set the education expenditure of developing countries at six percent (6%) of the Gross National Product (GNP). More than a hundred countries including the Philippines recognize this as the accepted standard on education financing.

However, YAD said education spending in the Philippines as percentage of the GNP hovered no more than 3.8 percent.

“As a matter of fact, our country’s education spending as proportion of the GNP didn’t even reach 4 percent. From 3.8 percent in 1998 under Mr. Estrada, education expenditure as proportion of the total national income drastically dipped to 2.14 percent in Mrs. Arroyo’s proposed 2009 budget,” Tan explained.

Debt, Once Again

Skater protests violation on UNESCO standard

A debt and fiscal watchdog concurred with the group. Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said constriction on social spending was largely due to the government’s long standing policy of religiously honoring all its debts.

FDC said that from 1996 to 2007, total interest payments amounted to P2.2 trillion compared to the total gap or losses our education suffered through the years which totaled to P1.66 trillion.

The group also said in the 2009 budget, interest payment for debts is 21.4% of the total general appropriations while total education allocation is only 14.5%

Automatic Appropriations on Education

Kabataan, nag-skate sa Kongreso

YAD urged Congress to put forward a higher education spending in their version of the 2009 budget as their commitment to fulfill the international standard on education financing. It also challenged Congress to enact a law which will provide for the automatic appropriations of education as mandated by the UNESCO Delors Standard.

“Our government for the longest time has paid debts, many of which are illegitimate with such clock-like precision. It not only robbed generations of young people of their right to education, it also subscribed them to a life of unending debt payments,” Tan asserted.

“We therefore urge our lawmakers to heed our call.  We enjoin them to choose between the interest of creditor banks or the youth, burdensome debts or the education of its people. Now more than ever, let the lines be drawn,” Tan said.  

YAD is also supporting FDC’s call to repeal Sec. 31 (B) of Presidential Decree 1177 in Sec. 26 (B), Book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987, which ensures the automatic appropriation of payments for principal and interest on public debt.

The youth group said a law on the Automatic Appropriations of Education is designed not only to augment education spending but also to contribute in rescinding the Automatic Debt Servicing provision, as both cannot mutually exist in the annual budget.

###

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) may have the biggest proposed budget for 2009 among government agencies but its budget still falls below international standards, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said on Thursday.

During the House Appropriations committee briefing on the proposed DepEd budget, Lapus said the proposed P167.94 billion DepEd budget for 2009 – which includes P2 billion for school building program – remains below international standards.

Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus

“It’s got the biggest budget it’s still not adequate and it’s still not at norm with international standards,” said Lapus.

Lapus said the DepEd budget from 2001 to 2007 made up 2.07 to 2.53 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product which is way below the standards set by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“The norm, international standards, place it at 6 percent of GDP,” Lapus said. 

“DepEd has the highest budget among all government agencies but if you double it, it’s closer to the norm, it’s closer to what is happening in other countries,” he added.

The P167.94 billion allotment is a 13 percent increase from 2008′s P149.25 billion, but Lapus said this is inadequate as the DepEd budget increase should be at par with the increase in the national budget. 

Lapus said that while the P1.41 trillion national budget is a 15.32 percent increase from the 2008 budget, the DepEd budget only increased by 12.53 percent.

He lamented that the lower increase in the education budget has been the trend since 2001, and that it was only in 2008 when the two almost became at par with an 8.68 percent increase in the education budget compared to the 8.94 increase in the national budget.

“In fact [the DepEd budget] should be way ahead of the national budget increase in order to recover,” Lapus said.

The DepEd’s original budget proposal for 2009 was P259.46 billion, he said.

Lapus said a higher budget is the only way for the department to implement all of its plans such as computerization of schools and increased funding for preschool and basic education.

Under the P167.94 billion budget allotted by the Budget department, the DepEd is planning to allot P136.82 billion for personal services, a 19 percent increase from 2008′s P114.77 billion.

However, the funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) is likely to go down by 7 percent, from 2008′s P21.73 billion to the proposed P20.27 for 2009.

Only P10.85 billion will be allotted for capital outlay, which includes school building constructions, a 15 percent decrease from P12.75 billion in 20O8.

The DepEd budget briefing is still ongoing as of posting time. - Johanna Camille Sisante, GMANews.TV

Moratorium on odious debts

By Gloria Ramos
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 16:34:00 06/16/2008

“Moratorium,” according to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, means “suspension of an activity.” Recently, Youth Against Debt (YAD) called for a debt moratorium and for government to prioritize funding for education. The 1987 Constitution mandates the State to “assign the highest budgetary priority to education,” yet education spending was only 2.26 of the Gross National Product (GNP) in 2007. This falls below the accepted international standard for financing education, called the UNESCO Delors Benchmark, which set the education expenditure of developing countries at six percent of the GNP.

Sadly, the country, already suffering from all sorts of crises, continues to pay for the behest loans, including the one for the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, incurred during the dark martial law years, in the amount of $1.9 billion. The power plant was built in 1976, despite the fact that it was located on a known earthquake fault. The unpopular project was stopped and never became operational, but the country still pays interest to the tune of $170,000 daily (P9.35 million a day or P3.4 billion a year) until 2018.

In a speech before the lawyers attending the 10th National Convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in April 2005, then Supreme Court Associate Justice (now Chief Justice) Reynato Puno urged the government to consider stopping payments for loans that Ferdinand Marcos borrowed to build the nuclear power plant. He said that bankers who lent to corrupt governments can be held liable for graft.

Having worked in several financial institutions in the past, I am aware of the stringent procedures and requirements that banks impose upon their officers and the prospective borrowers to ensure that the project to be financed is viable and that the loan exposure will be duly repaid. The procedures painstakingly crafted in the operating manual is shortened or, worse, discarded when institutions or organizations begin to play “sweet music” with officials in government, on transactions entered into with motives purely for personal gain.

Meanwhile, foreign debt expenditure continues to get the largest chunk of our national budget. Presidential Decree 1177, issued by President Marcos on July 30, 1977, ensures the automatic appropriation of payments for principal and interest on public debt. This law needs to be reexamined because we are in a deepening state of crisis and this practice, if allowed to flourish, will put us deeper into quagmire.

While countries should honor commitments, including public debts, it is the right of the people to scrutinize the legitimacy of the debts, especially if the government concerned is notorious for corruption, repression and unimaginable despise for transparency and accountability. What is the morality indeed of paying for debt burdens incurred by officials for reasons other than for public welfare?

The legal doctrine of odious debt or “dettes odieuses” is pertinent. It was formulated by Alexander Nahum Sack, a law professor. He says that:
“If a despotic power incurs a debt not for the needs or in the interest of the State, but to strengthen its despotic regime, to repress the population that fights against it, etc., this debt is odious for the population of all the State.

“This debt is not an obligation for the nation; it is a regime’s debt, a personal debt of the power that has incurred it, consequently it falls with the fall of this power.

“The reason these ‘odious’ debts cannot be considered to encumber the territory of the State, is that such debts do not fulfill one of the conditions that determine the legality of the debts of the State, that is: the debts of the State must be incurred and the funds from it employed for the needs and in the interests of the State.

“‘Odious’ debts, incurred and used for ends which, to the knowledge of the creditors, are contrary to the interests of the nation, do not compromise the latter — in the case that the nation succeeds in getting rid of the government which incurs them — except to the extent that real advantages were obtained from these debts. The creditors have committed a hostile act with regard to the people; they can’t therefore expect that a nation freed from a despotic power assume the ‘odious’ debts, which are personal debts of that power.”

To avoid arbitrariness in the determination whether a loan is legitimate or not, Professor Sack proposed that a new government be required “to prove that the debt ill-served the public interest and that the creditors were aware of this.

Following these proofs, the onus would be upon the creditors to show that the funds were utilized for the benefit of the territory. If the creditors could not do so, before an international tribunal, the debt would be unenforceable.”

Recently, the President vetoed the provision in the General Appropriations Act which put on hold interest payments for questionable loans, including that which funded the substandard medical waste incinerators installed in 26 hospitals run by the Department of Health (DOH). It was reported that, in the Illegitimate Debt Forum Series, members of the broad network called People Against Illegitimate Debt (PAID), such as Health Care Without Harm, Freedom from Debt Coalition, and Eco Waste Coalition, revealed that in the national budget passed by Congress, the payments for interests of “illegitimate debts” were realigned instead to finance social services, thereby augmenting the budget of the DOH by P6.812 billion for a total of P18.9 billion. However, this was axed by the President.

It is high time to constitute a multi-sector body that will scrutinize the legitimacy of the so-called “public debts.” Else, we will create perpetual “free riders” from the public and private sectors who are never held accountable for ransacking the public treasury.

Meanwhile, in bold defiance of the Constitution, should we again conveniently forget prioritizing the budgetary allocation for the education of the future leaders of this land?

Sen. Roxas: “At six percent, we are only at par with other countries in Southeast Asia . We need a little bit more than that.”

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Opening of classes in C. Visayas ‘smooth’
By Elisabeth P. Baumgart and Katrina A. Balmaceda
Correspondents

CEBU CITY — About 90 percent of the expected 1.3 million students showed up in schools all over Central Visayas Tuesday, yet no major problems were reported to the Department of Education (DepEd) 7 office.

“We have monitored the opening of classes in the 18 divisions. I called up all of them. The response was very satisfactory, ” said DepEd 7 Director Carolino Mordeno.

Based on reports from all 18 divisions, the classes started in an “smoothly and orderly” fashion, and Mordeno said this was “because we prepared our schools three weeks ago and we coordinated with the different government agencies to make sure of their collaboration in the opening of classes.”

Because schools may still accept late enrollees until the month is over, the full extent of the public schools’ challenges — including the lack of teachers, rooms or chairs — wasn’t visible yet Tuesday.

No more fees

One shortage the DepEd welcomed was the absence of complaints about teachers collecting fees from students. Mordeno said they stood firm on their decision that they will immediately suspend teachers caught collecting fees from public school students.

Mordeno also assured that this school year, DepEd 7 has received about 500 additional teacher items to address the teacher shortage in the region.

DepEd 7 Assistant Director Recaredo Borgonia admitted Tuesday that with some teachers still on leave, the organization of classes will be affected.

But Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Lorna Rances assured that even though some teachers may be on leave, there are still enough substitute teachers around to fill in for them.

“There is currently a training of non-specialized teachers,” Borgonia said, to address the reported shortage of English and math teachers in the region.

Mr. Palengke visits

As formal flag ceremonies sounded the national anthem in schools all over Cebu on Tuesday, Senator. Mar Roxas joined the flag ceremony of Cebu City ‘s Guadalupe Elementary School , singing the national anthem along with nearly 5,000 students.

The pupils lined up under the heat of the sun for about 30 minutes for the flag ceremony and the short program held in honor of the senator. They also welcomed Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Guadalupe Barangay Captain Eugenio Faelnar.

In an interview with reporters after the ceremony, Roxas expressed his agreement with the call of youth groups for the government to spend six percent of the gross national product (GNP) for education, if not more.

“At six percent, we are only at par with other countries in Southeast Asia . We need a little bit more than that,” Roxas said. He said that spending on education, however, should be done in a “more useful way,” focusing on technology, textbooks and teachers.

In his speech before the students, Osmeña expressed displeasure over the location of the school’s flagpole because it required the students to face the sun during the flag ceremony.

“Every day, you have to stay in the heat and make sacrifices because somebody doesn’t care how you feel,” Osmeña said. He added that he would request for the transfer of the flagpole to the other end of the quadrangle.

“It’s okay, if the City Government will provide us with another flagpole,” Guadalupe Elementary School principal Victoria Mansueto said in a separate interview, adding that the present flagpole could not be torn down.

The flagpole was placed where it was because a flagpole is supposed to be taller than the building behind it. She also added that the morning’s flag ceremony had been delayed only because of the senator’s visit and that on normal days, they hold their flag ceremony before the weather gets hot.

Osmeña ended his speech on a positive note, though, asking the students to “think about your parents (and) all the sacrifices they are making.”

Roxas also left his own challenge to the children.

“Take your studies seriously… Stay in school. Help your teachers teach you,” the senator said. (Sun.Star Cebu)