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ACT slams P20 M budget for SONA
By Nidz Godino
“How can Marcos Jr. administration justify spending P20 million on single speech when millions of Filipino families struggle to put food on table.. lavish expenditure is slap in the face to majority of our people living in poverty,” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said teachers’ group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) slammed reported P20-million budget for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
In statement, ACT said spending P20 million for single day event is an “unconscionable extravagance,” given “dire state of Philippine education and widespread poverty.”
Quetua lamented “one-day event splurge,” stating education sector continues to struggle with perennial shortages in classrooms, teachers, education support personnel, learning materials and facilities.
“This misplaced priority is emblematic of administration out of touch with needs of ordinary Filipinos,” Quetua said.
ACT urged administration to redirect portion of SONA budget to “urgent educational needs.”
Quetua stressed more than “pageantry,” what education sector wants to hear during SONA are concrete plans to improve lives of teachers and students.
“We demand to hear about substantial salary increases for teachers, commitment to double education budget and scrapping of wasteful confidential and intelligence funds,” Quetua declared.
House secretary-general Reginald Velasco had earlier confirmed to media that some P20 million has been allotted for “preparation and execution” of this year’s SONA.
Velasco said SONA on Monday would be biggest so far in terms of seats , over 2,000, including 1,814 total seats at the plenary.
Some function rooms were also assigned as viewing rooms for those who could not be accommodated in plenary hall.
Key component of SONA, Velasco said, is food and beverages, covering meals for all personnel involved, including internal staff and external personnel, as well as other support staff.
Velasco added P20-million budget is not only for actual day of SONA but also for all preparatory activities leading to the event.
“I want to assure public we are committed to transparency and responsibility in spending public funds,” Velasco said.
Meanwhile, House labor and employment committee chair and Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles is expecting the President to tackle labor issues in his SONA.
“Labor is major sector and one that concerns every Filipino, so I expect that we will hear about his plans to address various issues on Monday,” he noted.
Nograles expressed “grave concern” that Philippines ranked 59th among 60 countries analyzed in Global Life-Work Balance Index report of global human resource services firm Remote.
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