Cayetano proposes redirecting anti-flood funds to college scholarships

Despite over P300 billion spent annually on anti-flooding measures, flooding remains a persistent issue. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has proposed redirecting part of this budget to higher education.

He made this suggestion during Senate debates on the 2025 budget for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) last Tuesday, amid concerns over reduced subsidies for students.

With a P6 trillion proposed national budget and P1 trillion allocated to the DPWH, Cayetano pointed out that only P117 billion, or just 10 percent of the DPWH’s budget, is earmarked for state universities and colleges (SUCs).

“For the last two years, more or less one trillion ‘yung [budget ng] DPWH, P350 billion doon ay anti-flood, [pero] ganoon pa rin ang flood natin,” he lamented.

Cayetano argued that education, especially a well-structured scholarship system, could be as valuable an investment as infrastructure.

“Can you imagine if we remove P100 billion from DPWH, double the budget of SUCs (state universities and colleges), baka ma-flood tayo ng research at estudyante rather than bahang baha,” he said.IMT