President Rodrigo Duterte meets with members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc in Malacañan on July 18, 2017 ahead of his second State of the Nation Address. (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives welcomed the signing into law of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
The group also called on the students and other sectors to continue to be vigilant to ensure the full implementation of the law and the appropriation for its budget next year.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 10931 Thursday nigh.
The “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act,” was ratified in Congress in May this year and was transmitted to the Office of the President last month.
The law seeks to provide full tuition subsidy for students in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges, and state-run technical-vocational schools.
“We hail the signing into law by President Duterte of the Universal Access to Quality Education Act. This is a historic victory in our fight for the people’s right to education,” said ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio in a statement on Friday.
Tinio also commended Duterte’s move for “siding with the people and repudiating the advice of his elitist economic managers, who made it clear that they wanted a presidential veto.”
The signing, he added, manifested a concrete proof that change can only come by rejecting the “neoliberal dogma” of budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, who previously said that the government cannot afford to fund the free tuition for students of SUCs.
Gabriela Women’s Party, on the other hand, called Duterte’s move as a step forward in ensuring the nation’s future by investing in the youth’s education.
In a separate statement, Rep. Emmi De Jesus said: “Ang pagsasabatas ng libreng edukasyon ay tagumpay ng pagkilos ng kabataang estudyante kasama ang kanilang mga magulang at mamamayan sa pangkabuuan. Ito ay isang hakbang pasulong tungo sa pagtitiyak ng libreng edukasyon sa henerasyong itinatanghal bilang mga kinabukasan ng bayan.”
For his part, Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao said President Duterte recognized the call for free access tertiary education to all and have given an opportunity to youth nationwide, especially among ranks of peasant, indigenous people and urban poor to continue their education.
“We applaud Pres. Duterte for recognizing the call for free access tertiary education to all; this would be an opportunity to youth nationwide, especially among the peasant, indigenous people and urban poor to continue their education”, Casilao said.
He also recognized the unrelenting collective action of the youth and parents calling for free tertiary education.
Fight for free education
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago, on the other hand, regarded the signing as “an initial victory not only for the youth today but also for future generations.”
But the unified effort to ensure that free tertiary education is fully realized should not stop upon the signing of the law, the members of Makabayan bloc said.
Elago sees the need to remain vigilant on the possible limits that may be inserted in the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 10931.
The Congress, she added, “has to address the fact that our economic managers excluded any type of funding for this significant legislation in the 2018 proposed national budget.”
The youth solon pointed out that based on the 2018 National Expenditure Program, the government’s economic managers expect all state schools to collect tuition totalling P9.1 billion next year.
“Not a peso should be collected if we want to actualize the real spirit of the new law,” Elago stressed.
She also urged students not to stop with the signing of the new law as more battles are waiting ahead.
“At the home front, the student movement still has a lot of battles to wage — the issue of other fees that might be collected, the actual and swift implementation of the ‘No Collection’ Policy, the high cost of other living expenses for students (food, lodging, transportation, etc), and of course, the big elephant in the room — the yet-to-be slayed high cost of matriculation in private schools,” Elago said.
Rep. De Jesus said that the Makabayan coalition will ensure that the new law will be taken into consideration in the ongoing budget deliberations.
“Ang pagsasabatas nito ay dapat na ibayog pagtulak sa ating maging mapagbantay upang tiyakin ang lubos nitong implementasyon,” she added.
Rep. Tinio, on the other hand, called on Malacañang and Congress to work together to ensure that the free tertiary education law is sufficiently funded.
“Since the House deliberation on the 2018 national budget is still in its preliminary stage, we call on the Executive, through the DBM (Department of Budget and Management), to submit a revised budget that provides for the initial implementation of the new law,” Tinio said. (davaotoday.com)
