Budget for free tertiary education assured

August 20, 2017 Metro BLISTT

Baguio City Rep. Mark Go has made sure that the law granting free education for all tertiary students in the country will have sufficient budget.
During the regular flag raising ceremony on Monday where he reported the accomplishments during his first year in office, Go said there is nothing to be worried about the financial concerns raised for the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education bill signed into law by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
He said they will be tapping other available fund sources of government agencies such as the Commission on Education, which is getting budgets from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Professional Regulation Commission, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
He said based on their inquiries, these funds, which are aside from the regular budget of CHED, can be technically used to finance the free tertiary education.
The budget for the program has not been included in the 2018 General Appropriation Act of the national government, reason why some quarters raised fears that the program will not be implemented.
The administration’s economic managers estimated that the free tertiary education program will need P1 billion to be implemented.
The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education was passed by Congress in May and signed into law by Pres. Duterte this August.
A total of 59 proposed measures were consolidated into one bill at the House of Representatives. Go is among the congressmen who authored a bill on the matter. The Senate also passed a similar measure.
One of the key provisions of the approved measure is the exemption from the payment of tuition and other school fees of those who are currently enrolled or will enroll in the future, in a bachelor’s degree course or any comparable undergraduate degree in any state universities and colleges. ABN