BY CRIS DIAZ, Executive Editor
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: A lawmaker lamented the P 3.3 billion budget cut for state universities and government hospitals while pleading Congress to restore the budget reduction in the 2023 national budget.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez on Thursday disclosed that based on the proposed P5.268-trillion 2023 national budget, the University of the Philippines (UP) would suffer a budget cut of P2.5 billion, while funding for the PGH is reduced by P 893 million.
“Instead, we should have increase the budgetary allocations of state universities and colleges (SUCs), which are the poor student’s schools of choice, and the government hospitals to improve basic services to the poor,” Rodriguez said in a statement released to the Mindanao Daily News.
He said that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would be sending the wrong signal if it insists on cutting funding for UP and the PGH.
According to Rodriguez, depriving PGH of P 893 million would mean cutting medical assistance funds and hospital requirements for the treatment of indigent and the poor people.
“PGH and other government hospitals were at the forefront in the fight against the COVID 19 pandemic where government hospitals throughout the country were full of Covid-19 patients,” he said.
Rodriguez urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to restore the UP and PGH budget reductions by sending a budget erratum or errata to the House of Representatives.
“They (DBM) did that in the past. It is the DBM that could easily make the necessary adjustments,” he said. -0-
