Marcos assures: Gov’t is not neglecting SUCs

State universities and colleges (SUCs) are not being neglected by the government, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured on Thursday.

In the latest episode of his BBM Podcast, Marcos was asked by his three student interviewers about the government’s allocation of funds for SUCs.

“Well, first of all, hindi napapabayaan ang SUCs. The budget for the maintenance and the continued operation of our SUCs is P185 million,” the President said.

(Well, first of all, we are not neglecting the SUCs. The budget for the maintenance and the continued operation of our SUCs is P185 million.”

“So we’re not, hindi natin sinasabi that we’re not attending to the SUCs. The rest of the funding is going to go to talagang primary. Parang para kang nagpapatayo ng bahay. ‘Yung pundasyon natin napakahina eh. Na-neglect natin yung education napakatagal,” he added.

(So we’re not, we’re not saying that we’re not attending to the SUCs. The rest of the funding is going to go to the primary. It’s like you’re building a house. Our foundation is very weak. We’ve neglected education for so long.)

Marcos added that the government also allotted funds for the construction and repairs of classrooms, as well as support for teachers. 

Earlier, the President expressed dismay that the education sector suffered from decades of neglect and that there seems to have been no effort to address the problems in the education sectors. 

In June this year, Marcos said the country lacks at least 160,000 classrooms and that most classrooms need to be rehabilitated. — JMA, GMA Integrated News