Senate, House vow funds for free tuition in SUCs

The chairpersons of the Senate finance and House appropriations committees on Friday assured the public that they will find the needed budget to fund the law granting free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

The needed appropriation for the free tuition in SUCs was not included in the proposed 2018 budget, which has already been submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Congress last month. The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act was signed by the President on Thursday night.

Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate finance committee, said she will “make sure that this is funded under the 2018 budget” as she lauded the signing of the measure.

“The President’s enactment of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act is a manifestation of his commitment to provide access to higher education and better opportunities for the poor,” Legarda said in a statement.

“This law addresses the concerns of poor families who have no means to [send] their children to college,” she said.

The law mandates free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs) and vocational schools under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) starting the second semester of school year 2017 to 2018.

Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles, for his part, said there is plenty of room to “tweak and adjust” the proposed P3.767-trillion budget so that the free tuition in SUCs is fully implemented.

“We have already reviewed the possible financial implications and complications of this proposal and I can safely say that there is enough money to jump-start this and sustain it in the long term," Nograles, chairman of the House appropriations committee, said.

Nograles noted that for the existing 2017 budget, at least P8 billion was allotted in the Higher Education Support Fund (HESF) to finance free tertiary education in SUCs so there should be no problem in sourcing the funds needed to finance the free college education law.

"If we were able to do it this semester, I don't see any reason why we can't institutionalize it as part of government's social reform program," Nograles said.

Nograles said his committee will look at the budget proposals of underperforming agencies, underspending offices, unspent funds and unutilized funds in the 2017 budget and unobligated projects as possible sources of the fund.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier advised against signing the measure into law, saying the government cannot afford to fund such a proposal.

Diokno said the estimated budget for the new law is P100 billion, a figure which senators said was inaccurate. The initial figure needed to fund the proposal, according to lawmakers, is just around P20 billion. — RSJ/KVD, GMA News