Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste is pushing for the use of savings from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects as funds for scholarships or educational assistance to all college students next year.

Legarda Leviste made this pitch during the marathon budget hearing of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Thursday, Sept. 11 before the House Committee on Appropriations.

“This is a very good program, but at the moment, because of budgetary constraints, pinipili lang po natin ang mga beneficiaries sa program na ito (we are selecting only certain beneficiaries for this program)," Legarda Leviste said in his interpellation of CHEd Chairperson Shirley Agrupis.

The neophyte lawmaker was referring to CHEd's Tulong Dunong Program.

"Mas marami din pong makikinabang kung automatic nalang po na lahat ng mga qualified na mga estudyante ay mabibigyan ng Tulong Dunong, budget permitting po, would you agree Madame Chair?” Legarda Leviste asked.

(More students would benefit if all qualified students were automatically given Tulong Dunong, budget permitting. Would you agree, Madame Chair?)

Agrupis replied: “Kung may budget po, sino pang mag-hi-hindi na hindi matulungan ang mga nangangailangan na estudyante? (If there is a budget, who would say 'no' to helping students in need?)"

Legarda Leviste then laid out his plan on tapping the DPWH funds for education.

“Perhaps we can fund the extension of the Tulong Dunong Program to every qualified student by reducing the DPWH budget by around 5 percent, and I would be constrained on saying what Congress can do for the whole country.

"But just speaking on behalf of my own district, if my own district would need around P300 million to give every potential student a slot under the Tulong Dunong Program, and our district would have let’s say around P2 billion of roads under the proposed DPWH budget for 2026, that perhaps we could fund extending slots for Tulong Dunong to every college student who is qualified to receive it in the first district of Batangas by reducing the unit cost of the roads of DPWH by 15 percent, without reducing the kilometers of roads that are being constructed in my district in 2026," he said.

The entrepreneur-turned-lawmaker reckoned that by reducing the cost per kilometer by 15 percemt, "We can give every college student in my district a slot under the Tulong Dunong Program if they qualify for this program.”

“So I would just like to ask the Committee on Appropriations if we can kindly make an amendment, at least in the first district of Batangas, if we can kindly reduce the unit costs of roads of the [DPWH] so that we can guarantee to every student in the first district of Batangas that they, if they are qualified for the Tulong Dunong Program of CHEd, will be able to receive a Tulong Dunong Program slot or another form of educational assistance," he said.

The panel recognized Legarda Leviste's motion, but It remains to be seen during the plenary debates on the 2026 national budget whether or not the proposal would be adopted.

As a vice chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Leviste is focused on reducing wastage in the national budget and allocating the savings toward education to end the cycle of poverty in the Philippines.

On the first day of his term on June 30, 2025, Leviste filed House Bill (HB) No. 27 to provide a monthly allowance of P1,000 to every Filipino student from kindergarten to college, in public or private schools.

While the bill has yet to move forward in the House of Representatives, Leviste sees the potential for government savings to fund a pilot for this program in the 2026 budget.