By Dang Samson Garcia
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri assured his leadership will not agree on scrapping the Free Tertiary Education Act following the statement of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno that the program is unsustainable.
“I think that is the best thing that happened to the Philippines. Nung pinirmahan ito ni dating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte, umiyak po ako, honestly naging sentimental ako. Hindi ko akalain na pipirmahan ni Pangulong Duterte ‘yan kasi ang daming kumokontra sa economic team niya. Malaki raw. Bubukol sa budget ng bansa,” Zubiri said in an interview over DWIZ.
“Kung problema natin kahirapan, the best way to combat it is education,” he added.
The Senate leader agreed though, there is a need to review the guidelines being implemented to ensure that only those poor but deserving students will benefit from the program.
“Ako pabor ako diyan na lagyan ng guidelines ng CHED pagdating sa pagpili. Nakinig po ako sa interview ni CHED Chairman Popoy de Vera, yung State Universities and Colleges sa iba’t ibang parte ng bansa tulad ng Bukidnon, Batangas, ang mga estudyante dyan mahihirap at deserving na makapasok,” he explained.
“I think ang issue ay University of the Philippines. Tama po ‘yan ang dami nang mayayaman na gustong pumasok sa UP na kaya naman nila magbayad kahit gaano kalaki and I think there should be special category if they are deserving to go to UP dapat bayaran nila tuition nila,” Zubiri added.
The senator recommended to implement again UP’s Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program or STFAP, which is the bracketing of UP students according to their family’s financial status.
“Ako ay pabor na pagdating sa mayayaman na estudyante, dapat hindi sila state subsidize…We can look into that. That’s a good reform, pero possibly sa UP lang ito. Kasi sa iba like sa PUP at iba pang SUC galing talaga sa lower class at middle class yan,” the Senate leader stressed.
