NORTHERN Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza filed a measure seeking to amend Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (UAQTE)

Daza wants to amend the landmark legislation which institutionalized free tuition and exemption from other fees in state universities and colleges, and local universities and colleges in the country under his House Bill 8922.

The solon said while the UAQTE Law undoubtedly made teritiary education more accessible for financially challenged students, there are still many gaps in the statute that need to be addressed to increse its responsiveness to the myriad of challenges confronting them.

One gap is the inflexibility of the provision in the UAQTE which currently governs the targeting and identification system for beneficiaries under the law.

The amendatory measure seeks to provide for much-needed flexibility in the designation of the targeting and identification system of the beneficiaries.

The measure will amend Section 7 of the law providing for the order of prioritization of students who will avail of the free education.

Based on the measure, prioritization shall be given to students in the following order: members of a 4Ps household beneficiary; all students who are part of the households included in the lates National Household Targeting System or Listahanan; and students not part of the latest Listahanan.

The prioritization shall not apply to Filipino students in cities and municipalities with no existing SUC or LUC campus.