SENATOR Joel Villanueva on Tuesday expressed support for the establishment of a Philippine Entrepreneurs Academy saying that it is long overdue.

The creation of the academy was based on Senate Bill 2205 and House Bill 8957 that were tackled in the public hearing of the Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education.

The senator recalled that during his stint as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, he pushed for the inclusion of entrepreneurship in the common competencies of the agency’s training regulation so that graduates would have the opportunity and option to start their own businesses.

“I believe that a learning institution that zeroes in on entrepreneurship is long overdue for our country…It’s just in order that we establish an academy for entrepreneurs especially in the midst of many disruptions caused by digitalization, changing world of work and shifting market conditions,” Villanueva said.

Meanwhile, Senator Nancy Binay questioned the officials of the Commission on Higher Education on the amount needed to establish an academy for entrepreneurs.

Frederick Mikhail Farolan of the CHED Legal Department told Binay they do not have documents on the “pesos and cents aspect of the creation of the academy”

Reyen Sabate, chief Education Program Specialist of the Office of Institutional Quality Assurance and Governance, said money is needed for the construction of the academy’s classrooms, plantilla positions for administrative and technical staff as well as faculty members and the maintenance and other operating expenses.

“It would be better if we would know how much pesos and cents would be spent on this academy,” Binay said.