State universities and colleges (SUCs) will soon be able to produce more aspiring doctors as the 19th Congress allocated over P1-billion in cumulative seed money to develop new medical schools, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo said on Sunday.
Rillo, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said P150-million was added to the seed fund for the creation of new colleges of medicine in SUCs under the 2025 General Appropriations Law.
This is on top of the P275-million and P250-million allocated by the national government in 2024 and 2023 respectively. Congress first established the startup fund in 2021 with an initial allocation of P150 million, followed by another P250 million in 2022, according to Rillo.
“The seed money will support the new schools of medicine in our SUCs, helping them develop their capacity to provide instruction, acquire teaching materials, upgrade libraries, and build advanced laboratory facilities,” the lawmaker said.
Rillo said the 19th Congress has passed five laws creating new colleges of medicine in the following SUCs:
- Benguet State University in La Trinidad, Benguet
- Southern Luzon State University in Lucban, Quezon
- University of Eastern Philippines in Catarman, Northern Samar
- Visayas State University in Baybay City, Leyte
- Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in Agoo, La Union
“Congress is committed to fully developing our new schools of medicine in SUCs to enable the country to train and produce more physicians,” Rillo said. “We need more physicians to meet the growing demand of Filipinos for improved health outcomes.”