Press Release
December 9, 2007

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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