MAMAMAYANG Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima has filed a measure seeking to amend Republic Act No. 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, to address gaps and ensure that the most impoverished students are prioritized in the law’s implementation.

“The enactment of RA 10931 is a bold and positive step toward ensuring that quality higher education is inclusive and accessible to all Filipinos. However, eight years after the law’s enactment, several issues in its implementation have emerged, thus necessitating the amendments proposed by this bill,” De Lima said in filing House Bill No. 6825.

Under RA 10931, the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and the Student Loan Program for Tertiary Education were established for Filipino students in State Universities and Colleges, Local Universities and Colleges, private Higher Education Institutions, and Technical-Vocational Institutions.

Among the issues cited is that while TES was created to assist underprivileged students with education-related expenses, not all beneficiaries actually come from impoverished households.

De Lima also noted that TES has become increasingly inaccessible to youth under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), with the intake of new 4Ps TES grantees dropping to just 23 in Academic Year (AY) 2019–2020, from a significant 7,433 new grantees in AY 2018–2019.

To address these concerns, HB 6825 mandates that the most impoverished students be prioritized by guaranteeing that all eligible 4Ps beneficiaries who complete Senior High School and are accepted into CHED-recognized HEIs or TESDA-recognized TVIs receive tertiary education subsidy.

One of the key amendments is the inclusion of internship and related learning experience fees among the expenses covered by TES.

This aims to ensure that these additional financial burdens do not hinder students from accessing truly inclusive higher education.

The bill also proposes additional provisions to strengthen accountability and transparency in the implementation of the law and other student financial assistance programs, including the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system and a grievance mechanism.