MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte did not order to shut down the state university and slash its budget to weed out supposed leftist groups in the University of the Philippine system, contrary to a claim by a Youtube channel.
The president and the vice president also do not solely dictate the budget allocation for government agencies as implied in the video. While the president submits a proposed budget to Congress at the initial phase of budget preparations annually, lawmakers in Congress review the proposal and, if necessary, make amendments to the allocations for each agency.
CLAIM: Youtube channel “PINAS NEWS INSIDER” said in a video posted February 28 that the budget for the University of the Philippines System in 2023 was downgraded by about P2.5 billion.
The video also alleged in its title in Filipino that Marcos and Duterte have invaded UP Diliman, ordered its shutdown and slashed its funding.
RATING: This is false.
FACTS:
What the video says
In a Youtube video, “PINAS NEWS INSIDER” claimed the University of the Philippines was removed of P2.5 billion from its 2023 budget for providing shelter to leftist groups.
“This was confirmed by President Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte Carpio,” the video falsely claimed in Filipino.
Screengrab by Philstar.com, March 9, 3:10 p.m.
It alleged that budget deliberations in Congress took into account the UP system as “one of the foremost (agencies) when it comes to issues that should be studied by government” based on the unproven testimonies of supposed former rebels that claimed its students were being recruited by armed groups.
“President Bongbong Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte Carpio delivered on their promise, especially to the youth, that they would clean a number of universities that have seemingly become strongholds of leftist groups in the Philippines,” the video stated in Filipino.
“Along with groups of surrendered rebels and with the Department of Education, as led by DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, President Bongbong Marcos Jr. supported the decision of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM),” the video also claimed.
The video then showed an August 22, 2022 article from Inquirer.net that reported at least P2.5 billion was supposed to have been slashed from the state university's coffers.
What the video left out
The claims in the video were based on an Inquirer.net report published in 2022, which cited information from the National Expenditures Program (NEP) by the DBM for 2023.
The difference between the NEP and the GAA is that the NEP only shows the proposed budget submitted to Congress, while the GAA reflects the final version where lawmakers from the House and the Senate have already inserted amendments, if any. This was explained in brief by the Department of Budget and Management.
The video failed to include the latest budget of the UP system as stated in the 2023 GAA.
By the signing of the GAA or the Philippine government's budget law, P128 million has been cut from the University of the Philippines (UP) System budget for 2023, compared to its budget from the previous year.
According to the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2023 and 2022, the UP System was allocated a budget of P24.3 billion this year and P24.4 billion in 2022.
There are also no announcements from Marcos and Duterte to close down the UP system.
The UP system has also previously denied that students are being recruited by communists on campus.
Essential context
Former president Rodrigo Duterte — the father of Sara Duterte — threatened to defund the UP system in 2020 after students in the university launched an academic strike over the government's handling of the pandemic and casualties from typhoons.
At the time, then-UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo said the president's threat came from a "misunderstanding that UP does nothing except to recruit communists."
Marcos and Sara Duterte have not publicly issued similar statements that threaten to defund the state university over unproven allegations of communist recruitment, contrary to the claim in the video where both the president and vice president supposedly “invaded” UP and slashed its funding.
Why does this matter?
The Youtube video has reached around 167,000 views and garnered more than 500 comments. Most of the viewers in the comments section are congratulating Marcos and calling for the shutdown of the university.
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