Senator Bam Aquino on Friday urged the government not to hold free college education hostage, because government can afford free tuition even without the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
Aquino made the statement in reaction to a Palace statement that free college education will be affected once the TRAIN Law is suspended.
He said the government has other sources of budget. “ Sa totoo lang malaki pa ang hindi nagagamit na pondo,” said Aquino, one of four senators who voted against the ratification of the TRAIN Law.
“Why is there a need to hostage free college education?” asked Aquino. He noted that the government should stop burdening the people already drowning in the high cost of prices.
Aquino, the principal sponsor of the Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, said the government has enough funds for the continued implementation of the free college education, even without the P70-billion expected revenue from the rollback of the excise tax on petroleum products under the TRAIN Law.
He also reminded the administration that underspending, or the allotted funds that were left untouched by government agencies, reached P390 billion for 2017. The budget for free college education was set at P41 billion for 2018.
“It is important that the President knows the real numbers. It’s difficult to decide if he was being fed wrong information,” Aquino said.
He recalled that government economic managers told the Senate during TRAIN deliberations that inflation will not breach the four-percent mark. Last month, the country’s inflation reached 4.6 percent.
The allocation of funds, he said, depends on the priority of the government.
“If they will not give funds for the free college education, this means it is not a priority,” he said.
He also made the assurance that the Senate will not allow that this law is not funded since it was intended to support poor Filipinos to alleviate their living conditions through education.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Friday hailed President Rodrigo Duterte for reaffirming his commitment to providing quality education to Filipinos, especially those coming from below the poverty line.
“President Duterte means business when it comes to democratizing college education in the country. The state’s educational institutions recognize this and are 100 percent supportive of his advocacy,” Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the panel chairperson, said, following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Commission on Higher Education and state and local universities and colleges for the implementation of the free tuition law.
President Duterte witnessed the signing of the MoA in Malacañang last Wednesday.
The MoA provides that a total of 190 colleges—112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) and 78 local universities and colleges (LUCs)—will launch this year the free college education program as provided under Republic Act No. 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.”
“The spirit of the law is to benefit students from poor families who don’t have the means to put their children through college. Education is the best weapon against poverty, and President Duterte recognizes this,” Nograles said.
Aside from government sponsoring the tuition and miscellaneous fees of college students in state universities, Nograles said RA 10931 also provides educational support of up to P30,000 per semester for poor but deserving students enrolled in private colleges and universities.
“This is made possible by the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) component of RA No. 10931. TES will be offered to students who are existing beneficiaries of the CHED Expanded Student Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA) as well as those considered as poor based on the National Household Targeting System,” he explained.
But Nograles also warned against opportunistic drug traffickers and other lawless elements who would attempt to prey on the direct beneficiaries of the TES.
“Just as President Duterte warned against drug peddlers who victimize children of OFWs just because they have cash sent to them by their parents from abroad; we issue the same stern warning against those who intend to prey on the beneficiaries of TES,” Nograles said.
“The TES is meant to subsidize the educational expenses of poor students while they attend their classes in college. Let’s encourage them to complete their studies and not tempt or lure them into dangerous vices. Leave them to their studies,” Nograles said.
Nograles earlier described RA 10931 as a “legacy-defining measure for the Duterte administration that was made possible by the 2018 national budget.”
The P3.767-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2018 provides for additional benefits to the education sector that would be felt by students and teachers alike.
These include an additional P1,000 cash allowance for public school teachers from the current P2,500 to P3,500 (budget allocation: P770 million) and across-the-board increase of P10 million each for all SUCs for capital outlays to be used for the repair, rehabilitation, constructions of academic buildings and the purchase of equipment, among others (P3.7 billion).
The Nograles-led Appropriations earlier moved to realign P40 billion from the 2018 national budget for the purpose of funding the free college tuition program.
The realignment took place after the signing of RA No. 10931, meaning the program had no standby funds at the beginning and needed quick action from the House of Representatives. Only the House possesses the power of the purse, or the power to appropriate funds for government expenditures.
The P40-billion allocation for school year 2018-2019 under the program is broken down as follows: P16 billion for the aforementioned TES, P7 billion for Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET), P1 billion for the Student Loan Program, and P16 billion for Free Higher Education.