KABATAAN Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel urged the Commission on Higher Education to impose a moratorium on tuition increase.

Manuel said they plan to lobby for the passage of House Resolution No. 0009 that seeks to urge CHED and the Department of Education to impose an indefinite moratorium on the increase of tuition and other school fees.

“Ang edukasyon ay ‘di parang lata ng sardinas na may price tag at nagmamahal ayon sa inflation o sa pangangailangan ng kapitalista na kumita. Ito ay karapatan. Nang naipanalo natin ang Free Education Law sa 18th Congress, giniit natin na dapat walang fee collection at lalong dapat walang increase,” Manuel said.

“Kapag inaaprubahan ng CHED ang TOFI, tinatalikuran nito ang mandato nito sa bawat estudyanteng Pilipino. Bibigyang daan nito ang sakit na kasing sahol ng Covid19: ang education ‘fee-ver’ bunsod ng TOFI sa mga eskwelahan sa buong bansa na di lang magtutulak sa mga estudyante na mag-absent, pero mag-drop out na rin sa pag-aaral,” he added.

The lawmaker said the budget allocations for State Universities and Colleges should be increased to enable them to raise the quality of tertiary education.

He lamented that the budget of 13 SUCs were cut in 2023.