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MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced on Tuesday that one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “most long-lasting” legacies is providing 2.46 million students with free college education during the academic year 2021-2022.

CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera stated the adoption of the Free College Education Law has enhanced access to and the quality of tertiary education in the Philippines during the second day of the Duterte Legacy Summit.

“With the adoption of Republic Act 10931 under the Duterte administration, the intergenerational dream of acquiring an education was set in motion… Because it began during the Duterte administration, this landmark legislation is really, brazenly, and exclusively a Tatak (mark) Duterte,” he remarked.

Over a million people have benefited from the free higher education program since its inception.

“The Tatak Duterte has gone from zero, where everyone pays their tuition, to 1.19 million students who ceased paying tuition and incidental fees in 2018,” he stated.

Aside from that, the government has established the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and Tulong Dunong programs, which have a total of 364,168 beneficiaries this year.

Getting rid of poverty

In his Duterte Legacy testimonial, Jade Baguna, a TES graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work, expressed how beneficial the policy had been to his life and family.

Baguna remembers having to walk at least three kilometers simply to get to their Palawan school, and even making the most of a PHP5 weekly allowance throughout his high school years.

But it was thanks to this program that he was able to complete his degree, place eighth on the Board Exam, and work as a Social Work Instructor.

“This is a huge help,” he said, “because this is where I get my source to pay for the boarding house, daily allowance, and even the needs in which my parents did not have to be constantly troubled seeking for source, nor to bear the long-day heat.” “I thank you very much, because thanks to this program, I was even able to send my parents money for the school needs of my four other siblings,” he said.

Baguna is one of the millions of pupils who have been targeted by the Duterte administration’s anti-poverty initiative.

“We are assisting those who are actually in desperate need.” De Vera added in a combination of Filipino and English, “If you see the regional distribution of TES beneficiaries, it’s in the places where poverty is most common.”

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which has the greatest poverty rate, had the highest number of TES recipients in 2018, with 55.9%.

The Caraga Region, Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Visayas, and Soccsksargen, among others, follow BARMM.

The standard of education

The administration’s massive investment to attain good programs through established curriculums and more skilled professors is part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of giving “access to quality education.”

According to De Vera, the Philippines has raised its participation rate in higher education and has risen 300 percent in the global ranking of “elite universities.”

“It’s no longer shocking that when we took office, we only had four or five universities ranked among the world’s greatest… However, according to the most recent ranking of higher education institutions, 15 Philippine universities are presently among the best in the world. You don’t have to travel to Manila to get a good education. Under this administration, our colleges all around the country are now ranked among the greatest in the world,” he remarked.

The administration has begun funding the graduate studies of staff from higher education institutions (HEIs) through the Staff and Instruction Knowledge Advancement Program, or SIKAP, in order to implement created curricula and teaching methodologies.

At least 188 faculty scholars will be sent to the greatest graduate schools in the world for training programs, while maintaining international relations with 1,515 top-ranked colleges.

“We also offered the largest budget under this administration so that our faculty members may acquire their masters and PHDs,” De Vera said. “Our annual appropriation under the SIKAP is now PHP2.159 billion so faculty members can finish their graduate study.”

When the Covid-19 outbreak swept the country, all of these efforts held up, with institutions quickly adapting to flexible learning approaches.

The CHED has worked to restart in-person classes, in collaboration with the Department of Health (DOH) and the rest of the Inter-Agency Task Force.

“It’s very difficult to come up with the recommendations because of DOH’s relentless efforts, but the test of the rules is that the infection rate in all face-to-face classes is less than 1% nationwide,” De Vera added.

More than 89 percent of HEI workers have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and over 3 million students have been immunized as well.

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