FINANCE Secretary Ralph Recto said the Department of Finance is maximizing every peso collected in its revenue efforts to prioritize funding for education along with social protection, food security, and infrastructure, among others, to produce a generation of globally competitive Bagong Pilipino.

“Education must be a top priority of the government. And it is the last expenditure upon which the Philippines should be willing to economize,” he said.

“Because a country’s progress hinges on the quality of its human capital. Education dictates whether a nation prospers or remains poor,” he added.

According to the 2024 General Appropriations Act, education received the bulk of budget allocation worth P969.0 billion which is 8.2 percent higher compared to 2023.

Of the total, funding for SUCs reached P132.9 billion, a double-digit or 19.3 percent increase from last year.

This includes a P21.7 billion allocation for SUCs to provide free tertiary education to over 3.1 million students across the country, a law that Secretary Recto championed in 2017 during his time as a legislator.

“It was my goal to ensure that every student who cannot make it to college on his own receives a helping hand from the government. After all, building the country’s talent pool is not the responsibility of families alone. The government has to be proactive and give its share,” he said.

The Finance chief stressed that a college education is the best investment one can ever make, having a high rate of return of around 15 percent which is better than what banks and stocks can offer.

“A college diploma may not make one as rich as Elon Musk. But it is a tried-and-tested ticket out of poverty –towards a life of prosperity and health. So imagine the effects this can have on the Philippine economy,” Recto said.