SEN. Francis Escudero yesterday slammed the proposal of Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to review the free college education system for being allegedly “wasteful and inefficient.”
Escudero, Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education chairman, said: “I don’t understand why Secretary Diokno is so ‘stingy’ when it comes to investing in our country’s ‘human capital’ and yet liberal and magnanimous when it comes to ‘flood control’ which hasn’t even worked.”
Escudero made the remark after Diokno issued a statement over the weekend proposing to revisit the present free college education for the government to “optimally allocate resources funded largely by taxpayers for education.”
He also recommended that a nationwide test be held for those aspiring to go to college, with the scores of the examinees determining which State University and college “he or she will be assigned.”
Escudero said what needs to be reviewed is the allocation for flood control projects which he said have not been effective.
Last year, he said the government spent P181 billion for flood control projects but it was “without having an impact on lessening flooding in different parts of the country.”
“If at all, it is this allocation that should be reviewed and revisited,” he added.
But Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Committee on Finance chairman, said he is in favor of reviewing the free college education program.
“I think we should review it with a view to making richer families pay. Multi-millionaire families should pay tuition so that more resources can go to support poorer families and students,” Angara said.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III said he “can see the point” of Diokno, adding: “Free college should be for those who want to go to college, who have the aptitude to study in college, and who can secure a competitive slot in college (determine through competitive examination). Secretary Diokno has a very valid point.”
