TSN (Salceda defending the 2007 Budget during Oct. 25 deliberations): Salceda (paraphrasing from memory): In reply to the query of the Hon. Teddy Casino, it is my position as Appro Chair, and also of your Appro Committee, that education should have a higher budget than interest payments. This is the wish of our founding fathers in the 1987 constitution and should override the diktat of DOF or the fiscal guidance of the DBM. This means that education should get P300bn in contrast to the P154bn embedded in the 2007 budget. More than merely complying with the Constitution, it is good for our future and it is the right thing to do.This Congress being the policymaker must therefore progressively move the budget, being the principal instrument of our peoples aspiration which is articulated in the Constitution towards the state of fiscal hierarchy COMMENT: Since IP (nterest payments, which excludes principal repayments not being budgeted) is now 25%, the education which includes Deped, TESDA and CHED should get P550bn versus the current P320bn. Given that we have already closed the classroom gap, the teachers gap, the textbooks gaps and other learning resources, the incremental fiscal space of P230bn should be invested in 1. upgrading teachers salaries to globally competitive levels that would make them stay rather than go to Nigeria, China or the USA. P20,000 minimum is a good social policy but we must strive for P30,000 in the next four years. 2. it coincides with the rapid rollout of K12 and should provide resources for adjustments particularly in the transition for SUCS and HEIs 3. providing universal access to tertiary education using the most successful Australian model called HECS which we partially adopted in Albay through AHECS. The model is simple, any senior high can go to any college, enrol if admitted then school collects from the government and the government collects from graduates when they are employed via SSS or GSIS. What about others? The police. The military. The scientist ... The mandate for education and educational budget has unequivocal moorings in the Constitution. Well, it is the wish of the Constitution that the teacher or educator should be higher form of species in the totem pole of public service. The lowest form of lowlife being congressmen, right now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Constitutional Basis of Philippine Education Three Articles in the Philippine Constitution of 1987 impacting directly and indirectly on the educational system in the Philippines are: Article II, Article XIV and Article XV. Article II gives the declared policies of the State, Article XIV deals with education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports and Article XV contains provisions for the family and Filipino children. What are the declared policies of the State insofar as education is concerned? The State declares in Article II, Sections 11, 12, 13, and 17 that: 1. it values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights; 2. it shall strengthen the family as a basic, self-governing social unit and protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception; 3. it shall provide support to parents in the rearing of their children for civic efficiency and the development of moral character; 4. it recognizes the vital role of the youth in the countrys development; 5. it shall promote and protect the physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being of the youth; 6. it makes education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports a priority of the State. With these declared policies, the State is mandated to provide a system of education for the Filipino children and the youth. The kind of education that is envisioned in the Constitution is quality education, a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society, and the State must ensure that all citizens can access this envisioned system of education (Article XIV, Section 1, and Article XIV, Section 2, Sub-section 1). To achieve these goals, the Constitution (Article XIV): 1. mandates the State to provide for a free public elementary and secondary education; 2. mandates the State to provide scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies and other incentives to deserving and poor students; 3. requires all educational institutions to include the study of the Constitution in their curricula, inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love for humanity, promote respect for human rights and the appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country, teach the rights and duties of citizenship, and encourage critical and creative thinking; 4. mandates the State to manage and regulate, reasonably, all educational institutions; 5. orders the State to take into account regional and sectoral needs; 6. gives academic freedom to all institutions of higher learning; 7. ensures the right of all citizens to select a profession or course of study, subject to fair, reasonable and equitable academic requirements; 8. mandates the State to enhance the right of teachers to professional advancement; 9. mandates the State to give the highest budgetary priority to education; 10. provides that Filipino is the national language of the Philippines; 11. makes English and Filipino as the official languages; 12. mandates the State to give priority to research and development and innovation and to protect the rights of scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property rights; 13. mandates the State to preserve and enrich the Filipino national culture based on the principles of unity in diversity and free expression; 14. designates the State as patron of the arts and letters. 15. mandates the State to protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities and to use these rights as inputs for national plans and policies; 16. requires the State to support researches and studies on the arts and culture; 17. mandates the State to promote physical education and sports programs in order to instill self-discipline and foster teamwork and excellence for the development of a healthy and alert citizenry. In addition to all of these, the State is also mandated to protect and defend the right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development as well as the right of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation of policies and programs that affect them (Article XV, Section 3, Sub-sections 3 and 4).
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 03:33:07 +0000
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