With 9,953 enrolled students, the Office of the SAMAHAN Treasurer (OST) recorded a total budget of ₱1,990,600 for the first semester of academic year 2026-2027.

The budget saw an almost 12% hike from last year’s ₱1,778,200 in the first semester, as the number of enrollees also increased.

The nine clusters received this semester’s biggest tranche with an allocation of ₱744,629, followed by ₱579,680 for university-wide events, and ₱537,000 for SAMAHAN offices and departments.

This marks the first time since at least 2024 that cluster allocations took the biggest chunk of the budget, an adjustment that SAMAHAN treasurer Alaisa Kella Abjilina said was made in light of the upcoming Palarong Atenista and University Fiesta.

“I want to prioritize that bigger allocations will be given to the clusters. Most adjustments were made for the clusters, given that they will be handling two big events, Palaro and UFest, wherein they’ll be needing a lot of resources,” Abjilina explained during the budget hearing.

To make more generous allotments for the clusters, Abjilina emphasized that they are approving budget requests for “only those necessary.” 

“With my prudence din as the treasurer is that I made sure that the requested budgets from departments of SAMAHAN were only those necessary. For other contingency and extra budgets, I really rejected those kasi again, it is not well accounted for and hindi siya na-properly state kung para saan talaga yun na budget.”

To ensure that SAMAHAN funds are solely for “activities with impact,” she also stressed that requests for subsidized officer uniforms were denied, a “common theme” they found in submitted budget proposals.

“I have rejected some proposals such as the requests for subsidies for uniforms because… we only utilize those (DCB SAMAHAN) funds for activities with impact to the community… The clear analogy here is that you’re utilizing the funds of the student body for your uniforms when… it’s an internal initiative.”

The appropriation for Buklod Atenista was also reduced from the usual ₱250,000 to ₱50,000, as the annual summit will not be until the next semester.

Among the SAMAHAN offices and departments, the Department of Campaigns and Advocacies (DCA) received the highest budget of ₱35,000.

Meanwhile, the highest budget proposal came from the Student Judicial Court at ₱79,005 in anticipation of an external engagement. The Court was ultimately allotted only ₱20,000 as the summit was categorized as a SAMAHAN event.

With cluster representatives and treasurers from various SAMAHAN departments in attendance, the first semester budget hearing took place last August 10 at the SAMAHAN Office.