Senate to resume ‘exhaustive discussions’ on foreign ownership in education
Senate of the Philippines. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — More resource persons from the technical vocation (tech-voc) and private education sector are expected at the resumption of Charter change (Cha-cha) hearings in the Senate on Tuesday.
Led by Senator Sonny Angara, the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments will continue its “exhaustive discussions” on the issue of foreign ownership in Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs).
Opening up educational institutions to foreign ownership is among the proposals under Senate Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, which Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and Angara himself initiated.
“Mas maraming naimbita from tech-voc (technical-vocation) and private education sector,” Angara said in a statement.
(More were invited from the tech-voc (technical-vocation) and private education sector)
According to his office, the following are expected to attend the hearing:
- University of the Philippines Los Baños Chancellor Jose V. Camacho, Jr.
- Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology Chancellor Prof. Alizedney Ditucalan
- Technological Institute of the Philippines President Dr. Elizabeth Quirino-Lahoz. Representatives from the
- Technological University of the Philippines, Monark Foundation Inc., and the International Rice Research Institute of the Philippines
From the government institutions:
- Commission on Higher Education Chairperson Prospero De Vera III
- Philippine Institute of Development Studies chief Dr. Jose Ramon Albert
- Education Undersecretary Omar Alexander Romero
- Labor Undersecretary Felipe Egargo Jr.
- Representatives from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Philippine Regulation Commission, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Trade and Industry
Angara pointed out that the Philippines is the only country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership, establishment and enrollment.
Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia “all permit full foreign ownership,” he also said in the statement.
Aside from the educational institutions, RBH No. 6 also seeks to ease foreign ownership restrictions in public utilities and advertising.
Meanwhile, Angara said the Senate would stick to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s target of holding a plebiscite on constitutional amendments alongside the May 2025 national elections.
He cited the Commission on Elections’s earlier pronouncement that the simultaneous conduct of the plebiscite and national elections would save the country P13 billion to P14 billion.
“Is that not enough compelling reason? For me, that’s 14 billion reasons to do it,” the senator said in an interview in the Senate on Monday.
“Nag-set na ng direksyon ang Presidente. We’re following it, sana ang iba sumunod din,” he added.
(The President has already set the direction. We’re following it, hopefully others will follow suit.)
Angara made the remarks when asked to respond to House Deputy Speaker David Suarez’s statement that the issue of constitutional changes would be politicized if held simultaneously with the midterm elections.
