A party-list lawmaker on Thursday batted for a P30 to P50-million budget support for campus journalists under the 2019 national budget.
Ang Edukasyon Party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro Jr. made the call as he appealed to Congress for enough funding for the country's campus journalists.
“We will push for at least P30 to P50 million for the conduct of the National Schools Press Conference and the other events and activities leading up to the NSPC, which will be held in Ilocos Sur from Jan. 28 to Feb. 1, 2019,” Belaro said.
Belaro said the proposed allocation from P9.6 million for 2018 to between P30 and 50 million for 2019 is meant to cover for any training cost, competition cost, registration fee, and transportation expenses incurred by public and private students and teachers when they compete at the division to regional to national level.
He lamented that the proposed budget allocation for campus journalism activities shrunk to P2.1 million from P9.6 million last year.
“Our young scribes and their mentors are essential to the future of press freedom and our country’s democracy. Their education and training is also our cause,” Belaro said.
He also said his group would also work on "a special provision in the 2019 budget that will specifically authorize school principals, superintendents, and regional directors to use part of their MOOE for the school paper production, transportation costs, and other incidental expenses of the campus journalists and school paper advisers."
