Bam Aquino: DBM, SUCs should ensure funding for 2.27M students in 2026

Senator Bam Aquino on Saturday called on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) to work together to ensure adequate funding for around 2.27 million students and enrollment projections match allocations under the proposed 2026 national budget.

Aquino made his appeal at the SUCs’ budget hearing after a report by the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) said that the students enrolled in SUCs—currently at 1.97 million—are projected to increase by 300,000 in 2026.

However, Aquino cited information that figures from the DBM fall short of these projections, leading to an estimated P3.29-billion funding gap for 2026.

“For the 2026 budget, we have to agree. Iyong projection at iyong budget na ibibigay dapat tumutugma siya (The projection and the budget provided must match),” said Aquino, chairperson of the Senate committee on basic education.

“Moving forward, iyong projections per SUC at iyong kaakibat na FHE [free higher education] funding should match para walang sisihan. Huwag tayong pumayag na bababa iyong enrollment. Dapat pataas iyong enrollment because that's really where we want to go,” Aquino said.

(Moving forward, projections per SUC and the corresponding FHE funding should match to avoid blame. Let's not accept that enrollment should go down. Enrollment should go up because that's really where we want to go.)

Aquino, who is the principal sponsor of the Free College Law, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (RA 10931), said the gap should be “closed.”

The senator assured SUCs that the committee would reinstate the P12.3-billion budget deficit and ensure sufficient funding under the 2026 national budget for capital outlay, maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), and personal services. —VBL, GMA Integrated News