House allots P40 B for free college education

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has alloted P40 billion for next year for free college education in more than 100 state universities and colleges (SUCs) and locally funded schools.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, appropriations committee chairman, said yesterday P30 billion of the P40 billion was taken from the Department of Education’s school building program.

“School building projects with problems as to site – no space, no lot to build on – their funding was realigned to free college education,” he said.

He said his committee also pooled P6 billion from the scholarship programs of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and SUCs while P3 billion was taken from the Department of Transportation and P1 billion from the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

“The P40 billion will cover free tuition and miscellaneous expenses for all SUCs as well as local colleges and universities accredited by the CHED. It will also cover free technical and vocational education offered by tech-vocational schools under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority,” Nograles added.

The Nograles committee made the realignments before finalizing the House version of the proposed P3.8-trillion national budget for 2018.

President Duterte had signed the free college education law even if he knew there was no funding for it. He tossed the problem to lawmakers, saying they too knew the absence of funds when they approved the program.

The House is now printing the proposed budget for next year.

Nograles said he expects the outlay to be approved on third and final reading on Tuesday or Wednesday. It would then be sent to the Senate.

Lawmakers are targeting Nov. 15 as the date for the signing by President Duterte of the budget bill into law.

Tax reform to fund college tuition

Meanwhile, the Senate version of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) bill allocated revenue gain from the proposed tax reform measure to the implementation of the free college education law, among other programs that directly benefit the poor, Sen. Sonny Angara said yesterday.

During Thursday’s budget hearing of the CHED, its chair Patricia Licuanan said the commission’s proposed budget of P12.4 billion for 2018 does not include the needed funding for the law, pending the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law.

Licuanan said the IRR is expected to be out next month, and that the funding requirement is approximately P51 billion to cover the free tuition in 111 SUCs and the University of the Philippines, 16 accredited local universities and colleges, technical-vocational institutions and financial support for other education-related expenses targeted to poor students.

Angara, chairman of the Senate ways and means committee, said the TRAIN bill has earmarked funds to funding and sustained implementation of the free college education law. – With Paolo Romero