SENATOR Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday confirmed that the Department of Budget and Management owes state and local universities and colleges around P6 billion for Academic Year 2022-2023.

Escudero said that the DBM’s budget projection fell short because of the high number of enrollees after the pandemic.

“Basically, ito, roughly 50 percent of SUCs and LUCs exceeded the budgetary allocation of the number of students covered by free tertiary education, 50 percent followed the budget. Ipe-penalize ba natin iyong masunurin at hahayaan natin iyong hindi sumunod at babayaran natin na parang wala lang? O tuturuan natin ng kaunting leksyon at aral, na hindi naman pwedeng gawin yan dahil hindi sustainable ‘yan,” Escudero said during the Kapihan sa Senado.

“Hindi puwedeng walang hangganan ang pagpasok ng mga estudyante sa inyong mga eskwelahan dahil lamang mas gusto ninyo na makakuha ng mas malaking alokasyon ng budget mula sa Free Tertiary Education Act,” he added.

The senator said that SUCs and LUCs are not required to accept all students applying to them because they have entrance examinations.

“Dahil kung magtaas ng tuition ang mga SUCs at LUCs, magkakanda-gulo-gulo na naman ung budget na i-a-allocate namin para sa libreng tuition para sa SUCs at LUCs. May cap ba dapat ‘yan o wala? Pwede bang mag-cap ang gobyerno sa babayaran lamang sa kada estudyante? Kung iyong itinaas na tuition ng SUCs at LUCs, hindi binayaran ng gobyerno sa ilalim ng Free Tertiary Education Act, pwede ba nilang singilin un sa estudyante?” he added.