The University of the Philippines (UP) will get a huge chunks of the 2014 annual national budget as the institution was provided with a P1 billion capital outlay. The P1 billion budget of UP for 2014 is part of the approved version of the P2.264 trillion national budget approved by the Bicameral Conference Committee.
According to Sen. Pia Cayetano during an interview with ABS-CBN, the capital outlay for the University of the Philippines was raised from zero to P1 billion. The budget will fund to work with next year to support the completion and rehabilitation of cl(–foul word(s) removed–)rooms, buildings and laboratories to name a few.
Sen. Cayetano was quoted as saying “This is a welcome development for the UP community. With its capital outlay raised to P1 billion from zero, UP would have a fund to work with next year to support the completion and rehabilitation of cl(–foul word(s) removed–)rooms, buildings and laboratories, and to establish research centers and other facilities in its various campuses in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” said Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture.
The P1 billion approved budget of the University of the Philippines also includes the P275-million capital outlay for the Philippine General Hospital, which under the jurisdiction of the University of the Philippines.
The Senator added further that the P275 million makes barely a third of the P900 million that the PGH originally requested for its budget next year.
Senator Pia Cayetano was quoted as saying “The additional P275 million makes up barely a third of the P900 million that PGH originally requested for its budget next year. This wouldn’t be enough, considering that the poor depend on the PGH for medical care and hospitalization. I am disappointed, but I remain hopeful that we could find other sources of funding to support the operations of the PGH and public health care in general, such as the incremental revenues from the Sin Tax Reform Law,” she said.
The 2014 budget approved by the Bicameral Committee for the Commission on Higher Education included a P2.5-billion capital outlay fund that has been itemized for several State Universities and Colleges (SUC’s) across the country, and a separate P2.5 billion fund to support scholars.