Carrying over almost 75 percent of last semester’s P650K budget, this semester’s SAMAHAN budget reached a million pesos, SAMAHAN Treasurer Rona De Castro presented during the budget hearing last Saturday via Zoom.

The balance forwarded last semester was 487,507 pesos from a budget of 653,100 pesos. [READ: SCB adjusts 1st sem financial plan with P650K budget]

“Most of the departments returned their budget in full, so wala masyadong expenses for some departments,” De Castro said.

The budget collected from this semester’s enrollment is 571,800 pesos, from a SAMAHAN Fee of 100 pesos collected from 5,718 enrollees. The figure presented may change because the University was still accepting enrollees, according to De Castro.

With the balance forwarded and the fees collected from this semester’s enrollment, the overall budget totaled 1,059,307 pesos. If the entire amount will not be used this semester, the Treasurer said that the balance would still be carried over next academic year.

The budget will be distributed to: SAMAHAN Offices and Departments (P138,103), SAMAHAN Events (P310,700), Campus Clubs Organizations and General Assembly of Class Presidents (P40,000), and clusters (P570,504).

The breakdown for each constituent are as follows: (Courtesy of SAMAHAN)

SAMAHAN Offices and Departments

SAMAHAN Events

Campus Clubs Organizations (CCO) and General Assembly of Class Presidents (GACP)

Clusters

The Student Activity Fee (SAF) of 250 pesos for the second semester was distributed as follows: 75 pesos for CCO, 75 pesos for clusters, and 100 pesos for SAMAHAN.

The SAF budget for clusters are not usually carried over to the next semester, but clusters who were not able to use their budget last semester were allowed to request and carry over the balance for use this semester. 

However, this would not be the case next academic year. “Next year, hindi na magca-carry over ang budget from OSA. But the SAMAHAN budget for the clusters will be carried over every semester, every year,” De Castro said.

Accountancy representative Rholien Rhoi Verallo admitted that their cluster was not able to use all their funds last semester, spending only 13 percent of their budget for food allowances during the Ateneo Fiesta.

“We were not able to use all the funds that were allocated for us last semester. In fact, we only incurred expenses which utilized 13% of our budget, and such funds were used in the 72nd Ateneo Online Fiesta as food allowances for our participants. Specifically, we disbursed P200 per Fiesta participant. The remaining 87% of our allocated 1st semester budget will be forwarded to the next semester,” Verallo told Atenews.

He shared that the Accountancy Student Executive Council (ASEC) would be meeting to discuss next semester’s activities for the cluster to utilize their budget.

“Personally, I really believe that our budget should be utilized because the students paid for it this year. Thus, they should see how the funds are used for the services and projects of the student government, which they benefit from. With this, when all the 1st Semester exams are over, the ASEC will hold its 2nd semester forward planning meeting to discuss about the activities that it can offer and where the students can benefit from the fees they have paid for in the first place,” he said.

Lockdown delayed 1st sem budget distribution –OSA

Raphael Claveria from the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) explained that the first semester’s budget distribution was delayed to October because of the quarantine’s restrictions.

“Sa CCO, ‘di namin ni-release ‘yung whole budget… ‘yung mga may gastos na, actually October na dumating ‘yung pera, patapos na ang semester… kung may nagastos na sila, ni-reimburse namin ‘yung equivalent ng receipt,” Claveria said.

After a series of meetings with the Finance Office, OSA had created a mechanism for the releasing of funds.

Clusters and organizations, after approval of their budget proposal, would have to set a schedule to claim their funds at the CCFC every Monday and Tuesday.

Claveria oriented the representatives about budget distribution, requisition protocols, and liquidation.

When proposing for the next semester’s budget, Claveria emphasized the importance of submitting the previous semester’s liquidation first before requesting.

For liquidation reports, he reminded the representatives to submit the official receipt for each transaction, not the acknowledgement receipts, which are only allowable on case to case basis.

He shared the standard set by the Finance Office was to submit liquidation reports 14 days after the activity, but admitted that this was often not followed.

“Sa OSA naiintindihan namin na gagamitin niyo ‘yung budget for the whole semester… There’s a leeway or internal arrangement on our part,” he said.