De Lima files bill to improve free Tertiary Education Law

House Deputy Minority Leader Representative Leila de Lima on Sunday said she has filed a measure seeking to amend Republic ActNo. 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act”. 

The move is “to address gaps and ensure that the most impoverished students are prioritized in the implementation of the law”, according to the solon from the Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist.

“The enactment of RA 10931 is a bold and positive step toward ensuring that quality higher education is inclusive and made accessible to all Filipinos. However, eight years after the law’s enactment, several issues in the law’s implementation have emerged, thus necessitating the amendments proposed by this bill,” De Lima said in filing House Bill No. 6825.

The lawmaker said that under RA 10931, the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and the Student Loan Program for Tertiary Education were established for Filipino students in all State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs), private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and all Technical-Vocational Institutions (TVIs).

De Lima said among the issues that emerged is that while the TES was established to assist underprivileged students with education-related expenses, not all TES beneficiaries actually come from impoverished households. 

Based on the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), there was a sharp decline in TES grants for the poorest households, dropping from 74.24% in Academic Year (AY) 2018-2019 to 30.74% in AY 2022-2023. 

She claimed TES has also become increasingly inaccessible to the youth under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), with the intake of new 4Ps TES grantees dropping to 23 new grantees in AY 2019-2020 from forming a significant bulk of the intake at 7,433 new grantees in the 2018-2019 Academic Year.  

To address these issues, HB 6825 mandates that the most impoverished students shall be prioritized by guaranteeing that all eligible 4Ps beneficiaries who complete Senior High School and are accepted into a CHED-recognized HEIs or TESDA-recognized TVI receive tertiary education subsidy.

 Among the key amendments of this measure is the inclusion of internship and related learning experience (RLE) fees in the coverage of expenses for which the TES may be used to further ensure that these additional financial burdens shall not be a hindrance to receiving truly inclusive higher education.

Under the said bill, De Lima also proposed additional provisions to strengthen accountability and transparency in the implementation of the law and other student financial assistance programs by mandating a monitoring and evaluation system, and establishing a grievance mechanism to improve the measure.  — RF, GMA Integrated News