Duterte to heed economic managers on free tuition bill

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte will consider the advice of his economic managers on a bill providing free tuition to college students in state-run educational institutions, Malacañang said yesterday.  

The bill, passed by Congress in May, was transmitted to the Office of the President on July 5 for signature.

The President can either sign the bill into law or veto it. The measure will lapse into law tomorrow if he does not act on it. 

Economic managers have urged Duterte to veto the bill, saying the government does not have enough funds to implement it. The measure would require the government to spend P100 billion, based on estimates by the budget department. 

Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Banaag said the President would consider the views of economic managers who have expressed reservations on the measure. 

“The President has always wanted to give a comfortable life. Who does not want that? But if the advice states that the government will have a hard time to cope with it, he would consider that,” Banaag said. 

“We’ve got lots of problems, especially with the rehabilitation in Marawi and our repatriated overseas Filipino workers. It entails lots of expenses so these are being considered by the President,” she said.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Duterte said he would decide on the measure before it lapses into law.

Inflated cost

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto suspected that Duterte’s economic managers inflated the cost of the free tuition budget for SUCs to P100 billion to discourage him from signing the measure into law.

Recto, one of the co-authors and sponsors of the measure, said the cost of free tuition was nowhere near the P100-billion price tag cited by economic managers.

“The math doesn’t add up. How did they come up with P100 billion when in 2016, the internal income from tuition fees was P8.1 billion and income collected from students was P4.3 billion,” Recto said.

Even if the President ends up vetoing the bill, Recto said it would not be the end of it because Congress can still re-file the measure.

“Too early to throw in the towel. For advocates, the attitude must be to get up and fight again. What we should do is to re-file the bill, and use the veto message as guide in writing a new version,” he said.

“Practicality dictates that views of the executive should be taken into consideration. If we re-file a bill that is a carbon-copy of the vetoed one, then it will meet the same fate.”

Recto said there would not have been any issue had the Senate’s version of the bill been adopted when this was taken up in the bicameral conference committee meeting of Congress.

He reminded Malacañang that it should invest in human capital in the same way it is spending on physical infrastructure.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he is still hopeful the President would sign the bill.

Aquino said all senators supported the passage of the bill, which would benefit some 1.6 million students of SUCs and their families.

Whatever decision Malacañang would have on the bill, Aquino said the Senate would always find a way to include this in the 2018 national budget. – Alexis Romero, Marvin Sy, Janvic Mateo