The 2011 DAP allocation for SUCs — amounting to P4.28 billion — went to efforts to enhance infrastructure and facilities, and funded research, scholarships, and capacity-building of school officials, Dr Patricia Licuanan, CHED chairperson, said in a statement Tuesday, October 29. Licuanan said as of September this year, P3.96 billion of the P4.03-billion allotment for infrastructure and facilities has already been released to SUCs, with the bulk of it going to the University of the Philippines (UP) and Mindanao State University (MSU) systems. The amount, she said, funded "noteworthy” and "high-impact” infrastructure projects for SUCs. The UP system received P1.383 billion, while the MSU system got P1.039 billion for infrastructure. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) defended the highly-criticized DAP, saying it was not a bribe for lawmakers who impeached the former chief justice Renato Corona but a program designed to ramp up spending and help accelerate economic expansion. The releases, DBM added, were mostly for infrastructure projects. For research, development and extension activities (RDE), P560 million has been disbursed to 22 SUCs for the implementation of 128 projects. With the help of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, these SUCs will research on social concerns such as climate change impacts and mitigation, disaster science, biodiversity, agriculture and food security, health, alternative sources of energy, and education. "These projects are expected to produce at least 20 research and development technologies to be disseminated in 500 barangays and to benefit more than 100,000 households in the next 3 years,” Licuanan noted.
