SENATOR Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ Aquino IV has proposed a major reallocation of funds, calling for billions of pesos lost to allegedly corrupt “ghost” flood control projects to be rerouted to the education sector to avert a looming budget crisis for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).
The proposal follows a September 27 Senate Committee on Finance hearing that exposed a P3.29 billion funding gap in the 2026 budget for SUCs.
This shortfall threatens the quality of education for millions of students benefiting from the Free College Law, which Aquino himself authored.
The budget gap stems from a projected surge in enrollment. The Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (Pasuc) anticipates the current SUC student population of 1.97 million will swell by an additional 300,000 in 2026, pushing the total number of students needing support to an estimated 2.27 million.
Aquino, who noted the Department of Budget and Management’s proposal did not adequately account for this massive influx, emphasized that prioritizing the future of students over recurring corruption must be “non-negotiable.”
“The first time na nabring up natin na yung flood control ilipat na lang sa education wala pong tumutol,” Aquino said, highlighting a potential area of consensus in the committee.
He added: “We will do our best to make sure it is funded, pero dapat tulungan niyo din kami, we need the right data to make the right decisions.”
The demand to reallocate tens of billions of pesos from funds lost to corruption is a direct attempt to use those funds to close the substantial gap in the education budget.
Aquino anchored his budget rerouting proposal on a staggering analysis from the Department of Finance, which reported that the Philippine economy suffered losses between P42.3 billion and P118.5 billion from 2023 due to corrupt “ghost” flood control projects — infrastructure that was funded but never built.
The Senator is also working to restore an outstanding P12.3 billion in budget deficiencies for SUCs that were never released between 2022 and 2025.
“We will move to restore the budgets that were removed in 2025, apart from supporting the SUCs with the deficiencies, apart from the request for more support for MOE and personal services,” Aquino said.
Currently, P26.147 billion, or 20% of the National Expenditure Program, is set aside for the Free College Law in 2026.
