Senator Bam Aquino is prodding the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to ensure that there's enough funds to shoulder the enrollment of the projected 2.27 million students in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in 2026.

Aquino made the statement during the SUCs budget hearing after the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) reported that the current 1.97 million SUC students will increase by 300,000 by next year.

However, DBM data does not match these projections, resulting in a ₱3.29-billion funding shortfall for 2026.

“Para sa 2026 budget, we have to agree. Iyong projection at iyong budget na ibibigay, dapat tumutugma siya (For the 2026 budget, we have to agree. The projection and the budget to be given must match)," Aquino said.

The 48-year-old senator emphasized the need to ensure that enrollment projections per SUC and the corresponding funding for Free Higher Education (FHE) are aligned.

“Moving forward, iyong projections per SUC at iyong kaakibat na FHE funding should match para walang sisihan. Huwag tayong pumayag na bababa ang enrollment. Dapat pataas ang enrollment because that's really where we want to go,” said Aquino, chairperson of the Committee on Basic Education and principal sponsor of the celebrated free college tuition law or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (Republic Act No. 10931).

(Moving forward, the projections per SUC and the corresponding FHE funding should match so there’s no finger-pointing. We should not allow enrollment to drop. Enrollment should increase because that’s really where we want to go.)

"We want to see this gap closed,” he added, as he noted that the Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, was open to addressing the said shortfall.

At the same time, Aquino assured SUCs that the committee will restore the ₱12.3-billion budget deficit and provide them with adequate funding under the proposed 2026 national budget, including capital outlay, maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), and personal services.

Pegged at P6.793 trillion, the 2026 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) is the largest in the country’s history.

"We will do our best to make sure na mapondohan po kayo, iyong deficiencies na matagal na rin nasabi sa akin, iyong kakulangan sa tulong sa ating mga eskwelahan at iyong suporta na diretso sa mga estudyante po natin. We will do our best to restore those amounts and increase those amounts para mas marami pa pong matutulungan," Aquino said.

(We will do our best to make sure you are funded, the deficiencies that have long been brought to my attention, the lack of support for our schools and the direct assistance to our students. We will do our best to restore those amounts and increase them so we can help even more.)

“Kami po dito from the first day, marami po sa amin, and of course supported by Chairman Gatchalian, sinabi na po namin na kung aalisin ang flood control, dapat pumunta sa edukasyon (From the first day, many of us here, and of course supported by Chairman Gatchalian, have said that if flood control is removed, it should go to education. We will make sure that support goes to education).

"We will make sure that support goes to basic and higher education," he further said.