Senatorial candidate Joseph Victor “JV’ Ejercito said he is glad to have fulfilled two of his advocacies on youth development with the passage of the Free Education Law and the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Law when he was a senator.
“At least for my youth advocacies, I guess I have fulfilled my promises to the Filipino youth. Dalawang landmark laws ‘yan for the youth: the Free Education Act and the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Law,” Ejercito said in a recent press briefing in Quezon City.
Ejercito is running for a fresh six-year term in the Senate in the upcoming May 2022 elections.
According to Ejercito, Republic Act No. 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which was signed into law on August 2017, made college education free for underprivileged students studying in the country’s state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs), and state-run technical-vocational institutions.
Upon its passage, around 1.6 million undergraduate students from 112 SUCs and 121 local universities and colleges across the archipelago were expected to benefit immediately from the measure.
“Bawat state universities and colleges, lahat po ng mag-aaral diyan, libre na po ang tuition diyan (All SUCs, all students here, can enjoy free tuition). That’s already being implemented,” Ejercito said.
Meanwhile, Republic Act No. 10742 or the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Reform Act was signed on January 2016.
The law introduced a package of reforms that sought to strengthen the SK, such as prohibitions on youth candidates belonging to political dynasties, the creation of local youth development councils, and the granting of fiscal autonomy to all barangay youth councils.
Ejercito said he defended the need for an SK Reform Law to ensure the continuation of youth development programs at the barangay level at a time when the clamor for the abolition of the SK was strong.
“There was a strong clamor for the abolition of the SK before kasi naging breeding ground for corruption and traditional politics. Well, that might be true,” Ejercito said.
“But I told myself, kung mawawala ‘yan, lalong mawawalan ng programa pang-kabataan (if we lose it, we will lose better programs for our youth),” he pointed out.
Ejercito said crafting the SK Reform Law was a rare effort that involved lawmakers from different camps and political affiliations.