MARIT STINUS-CABUGON
LAST Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte unexpectedly signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. The law provides for free tuition in public universities, colleges and vocational schools. Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia had warned that providing such an across-the-board government subsidy would be costly yet insufficient in addressing the needs of poor students.