Senator Chiz Escudero has sought the passage of Senate Bill 1360 to expand the coverage of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) by amending Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act to cover private higher learning and technical-vocational institutions.
Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical, and Vocational Education, said there was a need to amend RA 10931 to make the law more responsive to the needs of the times.
“Laws are like apps. They have to be updated to retain their effectiveness when such has been degraded by developments, either new or unforeseen at the time the laws were passed,” the Bicolano legislator said at the plenary.
“Some laws are victims of their own success, that the demand to expand the benefits they provide surge, putting pressure on Congress to
amend them so that more people gain from the social good they create,” he added.
“The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act is one of those.”
According to Escudero, SB 1360 is the answer to the pleas of those who have been left out and left behind by the promise of RA 10931.
He described the proposed measure as the 2.0 version of the TES component of RA 10931 as it provides a raft of provisions whose common denominator is expansion—more beneficiaries, more financial help for students, and more schools under the state program.
SB 1360 also expands the TES coverage to students in private higher educational institutions (HEIs) and private technical-vocational institutes (TVIs). The bill is a harmonized version of the measures filed by Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada.
It further establishes a system of prioritization in identifying TES beneficiaries and brings under the program students who are enrolled in private HEIs and TVIs in cities and municipalities where there is no established State Universities and Colleges (SUC), Local Universities and Colleges (LUC), or public TVI. Macon Ramos-Araneta
“SB 1360 also brings under the program those who are studying in private HEIs and TVIs in towns and cities where there are existing SUCs, LUCs, or public TVIs. This effectively ends the embargo of granting TES to students of private colleges or vocational schools in towns where state-funded schools exist,” Escudero said.
While the measure gives the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) the power to determine the amount of subsidies to be granted, SB 1360 enumerated the benefits that the agency may grant:
• Tuition and other school fees, to include those in private HEIs, and private or LGU-operated TVIs;
•. Allowances for books, school supplies, transportation to and from school, and reasonable allowance for the documented rental or purchase of computers and other education-related expenses, if applicable;
•. Allowances for student room and board, if applicable;
• Allowances for students with disability, which may include special services, transportation, equipment, and supplies reasonably incurred; and
•. One-time cost of obtaining the first professional credentials, which may include application fees, notarial fees, review class fees, insurance premium fees.
“This bill allows TES beneficiaries to continually receive assistance under the program until the completion of their respective undergraduate, post-secondary tertiary education or technical-vocational programs, subject of course to rules,” Escudero said.
Escudero also mentioned in his speech that SB 1360 puts students of private technical vocational schools at par with other tertiary students.
“This bill ends this class discrimination, where schools are stratified like cruise ships, with many lodged in suites, while others sweat in steerage, such as tech-voc students. Our economy is reeling from skills shortage, lacking proficient craftsmen, short of professional technicians, that it is said to be easier to find an abogado than hire the services of a maestro karpintero,” he pointed out.
