Senate approves CHED budget, defers UP funding

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate finance committee approved on Thursday the proposed 2020 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and 110 state universities and colleges (SUCs). 

With the approval, CHED’s P40.78-billion proposed allocation for next year will be submitted for plenary deliberations, along with the P49.46-billion proposed budget for the 111 SUCs. 

The committee, however, deferred the approval of the proposed P15.40-billion proposed funding for the University of the Philippines (UP), pending the institution’s submission of required documents to the committee for review. 

Sen. Pia Cayetano, the panel’s vice chair, has committed to review the major cuts in the higher education sector’s proposed funding, with the goal to bridge the gap, which CHED officials pegged at P11 billion. 

“The biggest concern of CHED and SUCs is that they have at least P11 billion (in budget cuts) that is meant to finance (various education programs). We’ll find funds for these,” Cayetano told reporters after presiding over the committee deliberations.

“These are for students who have previously been awarded scholarships, and then there are incoming graduates who will avail of scholarships, so we could have a shortage there,” she said. 

She said she is already looking into possible sources for the additional funding, among which are unobligated funds from the agencies’ 2019 budget.