Senator Bam Aquino expects that by August 5 or earlier, students in state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs) and tech-voc schools may already start enjoying free education.
Aquino said the ratified version of the bill providing free college education was already transmitted to the Office of the President for approval last July 5.
Unless President Rodrigo Duterte vetoes or signs the measure earlier, then the senator said it will automatically lapse into law after 30 days or on August 5.
“Mas maganda kung ito’y pipirmahan ng Pangulo nang maaga upang maibalita niya sa sambayanang Pilipino sa kanyang State of the Nation Address (Sona) sa ika-24 ng Hulyo,” Aquino, the principal sponsor and coauthor of the bill in the Senate, said in a statement.
Once enacted into law, Aquino said, Senator Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, promised to earmark the necessary budget for its effective implementation.