University of the Philippines faces PHP2.5-billion budget cut in proposed national budget

The University of the Philippines (UP) system may face its largest budget cut in 10 years after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) proposed a PHP2.54-billion (US$45 million) budget cut to the country’s national university in 2023.

Copies of the National Expenditure Program show that DBM is seeking to allocate PHP21.8 billion to the UP System, a significant decrease from the PHP24.3 billion funding it was allocated in the 2022 budget.

The figure is also lower by PHP22.3 billion than the budget the UP administration pitched.

The budget covers administration, maintenance, and infrastructure expenditures in UP’s eight constituent universities, and other institutions run by its universities, such as the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), designated as the national COVID-19 referral hospital, and the Philippine Genome Center.

Within the proposed budget, PGH’s funding would be cut by PHP893 million, with the budget to complete construction on the premier government hospital’s PHP200-million multispecialty building entirely absent from the proposal. The building is meant to house PGH’s neuroscience department, as well as fields such as oncology, psychiatry, and ophthalmology, according to UP’s Philippine Collegian.

PGH caters to 600,000 patients each year, 98 percent of whom are indigent.

UP’s potential budget cuts are contrasted by an overall increase in funding for education and health services within the proposed PHP5.268 trillion budget for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s term.

Budget deliberations are expected to take place in Congress within the week.