By Phoebe Salvador
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Roa Duterte emphasized the importance of paying taxes in financing and implementing the free college tuition law during the ceremonial signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and almost 200 tertiary academic institutions on Wednesday, June 13.
Quoting Education Secretary Leonor Briones, Duterte said the public must realize that they need to pay their taxes for the government to provide free education for all.
“There is no other way where we can raise the money for the needs of the Filipino people except through taxes. So ang tao kailangan bumayad. We have so many ambitious projects trying to keeping up with the modern trend of education– that [is] giving it free, almost free for all,” he said.
He mentioned that he would go for sin taxes as well as excise tax on sugary drinks, adding “I would just tell the people that, you know, ‘if you want improvement on anything, practically all aspect of our governance would depend on taxes.'”
Manwhile, Duterte noted that the signing of the MOA is a crucial step in helping young Filipinos fulfill their dreams of becoming productive members of the country’s workforce through academic degrees and technical or vocational training.
“Free quality tertiary education is a significant step towards further building the capacity of our people, most particularly in improving the lot of the underprivileged and the marginalized Filipinos,” Duterte said.
The MOA between CHED and 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) and 78 local universities (LUCs) signified the launching of the implementation of Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which Duterte signed into law on August 3 last year.
The said law states that students in SUCs, LUCs, and state-run technical-vocational schools shall be given full tuition subsidy and, if needed, student loan. It adds that unlawful collection of tuition and other school fees shall lead to imprisonment or fines.
It also enables students with the financial capacity to pay for their education in the SUC and LUC, voluntarily opt out of the tuition and other school fees subsidy, or make a contribution to the school.
According to CHED officer-in-charge Prospero de Vera, more than 800,000 students did not pay their tuition in June 2017 while close to 1.3 million students will not pay tuition and miscellaneous fees this year.
Out of the 1.3 million students, 300,000 students from the 4Ps program will be given additional subsidy by the government.
