MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 14 January) – This year’s approved budget for state colleges and universities in Mindanao decreased by 6.38 percent overall compared to the allocation for 2024 owing to the 43.6-percent slash in the budget for the Mindanao State University System.
The Mindanao State University main campus in Marawi City. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
Based on the 2025 General Appropriations Act or Republic Act 12116 signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on December 30, state colleges and universities in Mindanao got a total allocation of 29,116,666,000 or down by P1,984,399,000 from last year’s amount of P31,101,065,000.
The island has 35 government-owned institutions of higher learning, with five campuses comprising the Mindanao State University System (Marawi, Naawan, Maguindanao, General Santos and Sulu) counted as one in the budget. MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology and MSU-Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography are given separate allotments.
Excluding University of the Philippines Mindanao, whose budget is included in the UP System, most, or 27 of these schools, obtained increases. However, these were offset by the huge cut on the MSU System’s budget. For this year, it only got P6,990,450,000 or a difference of P5,408,542,000, or 43.62 percent, from its 2024 budget of P12,398,992,000.
MSU Tawi-Tawi also suffered a substantial decrease of P1,106,017,000 in its budget, from P2,823,268,000 last year to P1,717,251,000 this year.
Meanwhile, MSU-IIT’s budget increased by P16,981,000, from P1,385,507,000 in 2024 to P1,402,488,000 this year.
The other state colleges and universities whose budgets were slashed are Northern Bukidnon State College (P95,373,000), Davao del Sur State College (P18,704,000), Sultan Kudarat State University (P23,992,000), Surigao del Norte State University (P25,105,000), and Cotabato State University (P37,625,000).
Jose Rizal Memorial State University obtained an increase of P1,020,250,000; Western Mindanao State University, P960,342,000; Davao Oriental State University, P304,440,000; University of Southeastern Philippines, P395,552,000; Agusan del Sur College of Agriculture and Technology, P225,882,000; and Caraga State University, P559,751,000
The following received an increase of over P100,000,000: Basilan State College, P125,074,000; Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology, P146,589,000; University of Science and Technology in Southern Philippines (USTP) – Cagayan de Oro Campus P173,294,000; USTP – Claveria (Misamis Oriental) Campus, P106,717,000; Davao de Oro State College, P198,582,000; and Northeastern Mindanao State University P132,029,000.
The Adiong Memorial State College and the University of Southern Mindanao received increases of just P774,000 and P584,000, respectively.
The total budget for state colleges and universities nationwide this year is P122,158,321,000, a decrease of P6,072,801,000 (4.73 percent) from last year’s amount of P128,231,122,000.
The University of the Philippines, considered the country’s premier learning institution, also suffered a budget cut. Its allocation was decreased from P24,771,903,000 last year to P22,763,213,000 this year. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
