• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Senate is eyeing to realign a portion of the budget allocated for the confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) of some government agencies to state universities and colleges (SUCs). Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Committee on Education, said yesterday the Senate will deliberate on the proposed 2024 budget of P5.768 trillion on the second week of November in the plenary.
Some 30 out of 117 SUCs in the Philippines are set to receive less funding next year.
Under the government’s proposed national budget for 2024, SUCs would be allotted a total of P100.8 billion, a reduction of 5.75 percent compared to this year’s funding of P107 billion, or a decrease of P6.2 billion.
The senator said he will look for funds to restore the budget of free higher education, which is P4 billion, for SUCs. Gatchalian, who was the guest speaker at the Education Summit to mark the World Teachers’ Day celebration in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, added that his fellow senators are also discussing realigning some of the CIFs to boost the budget of the country’s law enforcement agencies like the Department of National Defense and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
The PCG is currently at the forefront of guarding the West Philippine Sea, he noted.
Gatchalian, however, said that the needed budget should be specified or listed as in “line item”.
“The intelligence funds should be limited to intelligence gathering. We will also look if the activities of the different law enforcement agencies are legitimate,” he added. | GB
