Thousands of students joined planking activities.

MANILA, Philippines - Students opposing budget cuts on state colleges and universities (SUCs) have a new protest weapon -- planking.

Thousands of them lay face down and motionless on streets, in defiance of a lawmaker's proposal to outlaw the act.

It was the highlight of students' strikes and walkouts held by thousands of Iskolars ng Bayan from University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippine Normal University, Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology, Rizal Technological University, Marikina Polytechnic College, and Technological University of the Philippines, according to the  National Union of Students of the Philippines.

Around 20,000 students, teachers, and SUC officials took part in mass planking, walkouts and marches in nationwide protests, according to Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino.

"The nationwide strike embodies the outrage of our SUCs against the inaction of the Aquino administration to reverse the cuts and provide sufficient funding for our public universities," he said in a press statement Friday.

Congress petition

Palatino said he submitted in Congress a petition letter addressed to Committee on Appropriations chair Rep. Joseph Abaya containing the proposed budget amendments, including a P24-billion increase for the budget of SUCs.

He said the P21.8-billion budget given to SUCs for 2012 is around P24 billion short of the P45.8 billion that SUC needs.

He said protesters will continue their mass actions unless the Aquino administration greenlights national budget amendments that will benefit SUCs. "I urge the Aquino administration to grant these amendments. Otherwise, we'll be left with no choice but to continue with the protest actions."

In the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2012, 50 schools will have their total budget slashed by a combined P569.8 million, 45 will have cuts in their Maintenance and Operating Expenses (MOOE) funds by P250.9 million, and 58 will have cuts in Personal Services (PS) by P403.3 million, said Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of youth group Anakbayan.

He added that the budget allotted for SUCs' capital outlay is zero.
 
The basic education budget of P238 billion is also insufficient, Crisostomo said, adding that in real value, it will only amount to P6.68 spending per Filipino daily.

"Dinagdagan ang budget sa intel, sa military, sa CCT [Conditional Cash Transfer], pero bakit sa edukasyon nabawasan?" he asked.

By agency, DepEd has biggest budget
 
Malacañang said it is listening to the students' concerns.

"We are not oblivious to the students. The budget of PUP increased by 11%," said deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.

The General Appropriations Act for 2012 approved on second reading by Congress also shows that social services and education account for a major bulk of the national budget next year. 
 

By agency, the Department of Education will get the highest budget in the 2012 GAA.

In a press statement, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said that "the Aquino administration has increased the aggregate budget for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) by 10.1 percent to P26.1 billion in 2012, from P23.7 billion in 2011."
 
"This amount is composed of P23.6 billion, inclusive of automatic appropriations, which are itemized per SUC; a standby fund of more than P2 billion under the Miscellaneous and Personnel Benefit Funds (MPBF) for unfilled positions in SUCs; as well as an additional P500 million under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for SUC development," Abad said.
 
“Clearly, the state subsidy for SUCs is higher next year. But more important than the increase, this proposed budget supports the development of SUCs as responsive to the government’s five priority areas for growth and employment, which are agriculture and fisheries, tourism, general infrastructure, semiconductor and electronics, and business process outsourcing (BPO),” Abad said.
 
Abad said "the additional P500 million under CHED—P250 million each for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses and for Capital Outlay—will be provided for SUCs as additional funding for activities in line with the government’s priority areas for growth. “If this effort succeeds, the government intends to invest more in SUCs."
 
Daily protests

Students from UP Clark, UP Olongapo, UP Los Baños, and UP Mindanao also took part in the nationwide strike.
 
In UP Mindanao, students said they will hold daily protests at school during breaks in their classes.

This will coincide with similar daily protests to be held in other SUCs.

In Pampanga, signature campaigns and candle lighting ceremonies were launched by students of other state universities in the province such as those from the Pampanga Agricultural College in Magalang and the Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University in Bacolor town.

Dr. Charito Sebastian, director of UP Clark and UP Olongapo, said all students who took part in protests Friday have been excused from their classes and won't be considered absent.

In UP Los Baños, students also held mass planking activities and changed their Facebook profiles to show an icon stating that they oppose budget cuts of SUCs. - with reports from Niko Baua, ABS-CBN News; Robert Tuazon, ABS-CBN Pampanga; Sarita Kare, ABS-CBN Southern Tagalog; Elric Ayop, ABS-CBN Davao