Senator Bam Aquino on Wednesday pressed the Commission on Higher Education to refund to the students the miscellaneous fees they paid in state universities and colleges.
“We demand that CHED immediately implement free education in our public universities and colleges and reimburse students for miscellaneous fees charged during the 2nd semester of the current academic year,” said Aquino, principal sponsor and co-author of Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
He slammed CHED for its inaction on the Senate’s call to implement RA 10931 in the second semester of school year 2017-18, and demanded a refund for students.
Aquino said it is the obligation of CHED to address the Senate resolution and implement the law that will solve the problem of millions of Filipino students and their families.
On Feb. 15, the Senate unanimously adopted the senator’s Resolution No. 620, which urged the chamber to express a united front in support of the full implementation of the free college law. However, CHED has yet to act on the Senate’s move.
Aquino said the senators agreed that CHED should implement the law, which took effect August 2017 and was allocated a P41-billion budget.
“Looks like the Senate’s call has fallen on deaf ears, because until now, we have yet to hear from CHED regarding our push for the law’s implementation in the second semester of 2017,” added Aquino.
During the bicameral conference committee for RA 10931, the senator insisted that representatives from both Houses of Congress expressly agreed on the legislative intent to implement it by the second semester of 2017-18. Macon Ramos-Araneta
Aquino said CHED assured lawmakers during budget deliberation for RA 10931 that the P41 billion budget for its implementation was sufficient to cover the tuition and other fees in SUCs starting second semester of 2017-18.
The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act provides free tuition and miscellaneous fees to students in SUCs, local universities and colleges and Tesda-run vocational schools.
Under the law, students of both public and private college and universities can also apply for scholarship grants and student loans.
The measure was languishing in the legislative mill for years before it was passed during Aquino’s time as chairman of the Committee on Education in the 17th Congress. This was his 19th law in his four years as senator. Macon Ramos-Araneta