Gov’t can fund free college tuition program even without TRAIN law —Bam Aquino

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said Friday the government should not hold the free college education program hostage to justify its opposition to suspend the excise tax under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.

Aquino said there is enough fund to finance the free college education program, even without the P70 billion expected revenue from the rollback of the excise tax on petroleum products under the TRAIN Law.

"May iba namang pagkukunan ang gobyerno ng budget. Sa totoo lang malaki pa ang hindi nagagamit na pondo. Bakit kailangan i-hostage ang libreng kolehiyo?" said Aquino, one of the four senators who voted against the ratification of the TRAIN Law.

The senator earlier filed a bill seeking to stop the implementation of the excise tax on fuel under the law once the inflation rate breaches the target range over a three-month period.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday pointed to the importance of taxes in funding his government's social programs amid calls to suspend the implementation of the tax reform law due to rising fuel prices.

"So ang tao kailangan bumayad. We have so many ambitious projects, trying to keeping up with the modern trend of education that giving it free, almost free for all," the President said in a speech at Malacañang following the signing of an agreement in connection with the implementation of the Free Higher Education Law (Republic Act 10931).

The Department of Finance has insisted suspending the TRAIN law would have a negative impact on the government's infrastructure program and ability to fund the free tuition program and the increase in salaries of the uniformed personnel.

But Aquino said the administration’s underspending, which was a result of the government agencies leaving allotted funds untouched, reached P390 billion for 2017. He said the budget for free college education was set at P41 billion for 2018.

“Mahalaga na alam ng Pangulo ang totoong numero. Mahirap nang magdesisyon kapag mali mali ang binibigay na impormasyon,” he said.

He said government economic managers had earlier assured the Senate during TRAIN deliberations that inflation will not breach the four-percent mark. Last month, however, the country’s inflation reached 4.6 percent.

"Ang paglalaan ng pondo ay batay sa mga prayoridad ng gobyerno. Kung hindi nila bibigyan ng pondo ang libreng kolehiyo, ibig sabihin, hindi ito mahalaga para sa kanila,” he said.

"Isa pa, hindi namin hahayaan sa Senado na hindi mapondohan ang batas na ito, na layong suportahan ang mahihirap ng Pilipino na umasenso sa tulong ng edukasyon," he added. — MDM, GMA News