Should he earn a Senate seat in May, former Senator and 2025 senatorial candidate Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson plans to revisit the Free Tertiary Education Act to streamline its procedures, after receiving information that applicants are having difficulty meeting the requirements for it.
Lacson, whose scrutiny of the national budget triggered the initial funding for the law, said the procedures may need to be simplified so that poor but deserving students will not be denied an opportunity for free education.
“We will revisit the Free Tertiary Education Act and streamline it if needed. If the information is true that many requirements are imposed on applicants, it indicates the program does not want beneficiaries. The requirements may need to be simplified,” he said in a recent interview with vloggers in Pangasinan, when told about the issue.
“The law decrees that it be simple. Could it be that the implementing rules are complicated? We must revisit it and if needed, make the needed amendments. So we will visit the Free Tertiary Education Act,” he added.
Related: Ping Lacson, Ire-revisit ang Free Tertiary Education Act para Ma-Streamline ang Proseso
But Lacson also stressed that the exams to qualify for free tertiary education must be competitive, lest it become prone to abuse.
He said that if the exams are not competitive, anyone with connections to some politicians can be made beneficiaries of the free tertiary education law – without being motivated to study well.
“If they become beneficiaries through that route, they are likely to keep failing because they are not motivated to study well,” he said.
In 2016, Lacson set in motion the funding for the Free Tertiary Education Act, which was still about to become a law at the time, when he uncovered an P8.3-billion appropriation involving the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s budget for 2017.
Despite lobbying from the congressmen concerned, he introduced an amendment to remove it from the budget. His fellow senators eventually agreed to put the amount in what would become the Free Tertiary Education Act of 2017.
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Ping Lacson, Ire-revisit ang Free Tertiary Education Act para Ma-Streamline ang Proseso
Kung sakaling manalo siya sa Mayo, balak ni dating Senador at 2025 senatorial candidate Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson na i-revisit ang Free Tertiary Education Act para ma-streamline ang proseso nito, matapos makatanggap ng impormasyon na nahihirapan ang ilang aplikante sa mga requirement nito.
Ani Lacson, na nagsimula ng unang pagpondo sa batas dahil sa pagbusisi sa pambansang budget, dapat simple lang ang proseso para hindi mawalan ng pagkakataon ang mga mahihirap nguni’t matalinong estudyante na magkaroon ng libreng edukasyon.
“Ire-revisit natin ang Free Tertiary Education Act at streamline natin. Kasi kung katakot-takot ang requirements, parang ayaw tumanggap. Kailangan simplified lang,” aniya nang napanayam ng mga vloggers sa Pangasinan, matapos matanong sa isyu.
“Ang sa batas, simple lang eh. Baka ang IRR ang ginawang komplikado. So kailangan tingnan natin at kung may kakulangan sa batas, pwede namang amyendahan yan. So ire-revisit natin ang Free Tertiary Education Act,” dagdag niya.
Nguni’t idiniin din ni Lacson na dapat “competitive” din ang pagsusulit para sa mga aplikante, para hindi maabuso ang programa.
Kung hindi “competitive” ang pagsusulit, maaaring pakyawin ng mga may koneksyon sa ilang pulitiko ang Free Tertiary Education Act – at hindi na sila gaganahang mag-aral.
“Kung bagsak naman ng bagsak, parang walang motivation,” aniya.
Noong 2016, sinimula ni Lacson ang pagpondo ng Free Tertiary Education Act, na noon ay pipirmahin pa lang para maging batas, nang nabuking niya ang P8.3-bilyong appropriation na sangkot ang 2017 budget ng Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Sa kabila ng pagla-lobby ng ilang taga-Kamara, pinatanggal ni Lacson ang P8.3 bilyon sa budget. Pumayag ang mga kapwa niyang senador na ilagay ang P8.3 bilyon sa Free Tertiary Education Act of 2017.
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