PHILIPPINES: PIMENTEL PROPOSES P100 MILLION INCREASE IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BUDGET

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today deplored that the Department of
Science and Technology remains a “tailender” in the
distribution of the annual budget of the national
government as he batted for the allocation of more
funds to the department if the country is to achieve a
quantum leap in its industrial and economic
development.

Pimentel proposed that the P5.2 billion budget of the
DOST for 2008 be raised by P100 million instead of
just P20 million that has been suggested by a fellow
legislator.

“If we have to propel our country into the developed
world, it is necessary that we must use science and
technology as the engine of that propulsion to get us
to where we want the Philippines to be – as a
developed country.

The DOST budget accounts only for less than one
percent — .43 percent to be exact — of the proposed
P1.227 trillion for next year.

Its proposed budget is equivalent to only half of the
P10 billion budget of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources – the smallest among the 12
departments with the appropriations for next year.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that each country
should set aside at least one percent of its gross
domestic product (GDP) for science and research and
development. But the DOST’s proposed budget is only
.11 percent of the GDP of the Philippines.

Since the Philippines has an estimated GDP of P7
trillion, its spending for R & D should be at least P7
billion a year.

Available data revealed that a very small proportion
of the 2.2 million college students are enrolled in
the science and technology – 9 percent in physical
science, 6.9 percent in mathematics and computers and
13.8 percent in engineering.

Pimentel said the sad state of science education in
the country is mirrored in the fact that many of the
physics teachers are not even physics majors.

Pimentel said he is supporting the initiative of Sen.
Panfilo Lacson to increase DOST’s budget. But instead
of Lacson’s proposal for a P20 million hike, Pimentel
is seeking an increase of P100 million.

He said he has already identified the source for
supplemental funding to be used for scholarships not
only of students in science course but also for
teachers in science.

The minority leader emphasized the increased funding
for science scholarships should be equally distributed
among recipients from all over the country, instead of
favoring only those in Metro Manila and Luzon.

“I fully support the idea that the DOST should really
have the money to enable it to implement its mission
all over the land. Meaning to say, I do not wish to
see any increment or even the budgetary allocation for
DOST just spent for the needs of Metro Manila,” he
said.

Pimentel said that Singapore’s investments in R & D
explains why this tiny city-state has driven its
development to stratospheric heights.
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