Cayetano files Iskolar ng Bayan Bill granting free college education
for Top HS Students to provide Better Job Opportunities

Sen. Alan Cayetano filed Senate Bill No. 93 otherwise known as the Iskolar ng Bayan Bill which aims to help provide young Filipinos increased access to tertiary education to allow them to find better and higher paying jobs.

According to the Iskolar ng Bayan Bill, high school students who belong to the top 10 in their class will be granted scholarships by the government in the state university or college where they are accepted.

The Senator, who is pushing for measures that will address the problems of higher prices, lack of jobs and low income or what he terms as PTK (Presyo, Trabaho, Kita) has filed this bill to help address the joblessness problem facing young Filipinos.

The measure is also among the reforms the Senator is pushing for to ensure that all Filipino families, especially the poor immediately feel the benefits of our strong economic growth.

Sen. Cayetano also expressed growing disappointment about the high number of out-of-school youth in the country, which now stands at 16% of the estimated 39 million young Filipinos, according to the latest Annual Poverty Indicators Survey.

"Clearly, the government must now act to provide opportunities for these millions of young Filipinos who are out of school, not because they choose to but because they cannot afford it due to the high cots of education," he said.

This new data according to Sen. Cayetano is also related to the high drop out rates throughout the country where half of high school students drop out, and of those who get to finish high school, only 20 percent enroll in college, and out of this number, only 15 percent end up graduating.

"Poor Filipino families suffer daily from the tremendously high cost of education. Paying for education is now proving to be impossible for the Filipino family and the government must do everything to change that," Cayetano said.

"By providing more affordable higher education, the government will provide Filipino Families and the youth with better opportunities for gainful employment that will lift them out of poverty", the senator added.

Cayetano also emphasized that he will push hard for the majority coalition in the Senate to prioritize measures such as this in order for families to feel the benefits of our economic growth. He is also set to file several other measures that will address PTK (Presyo, Trabaho, Kita) in the coming weeks.

"This was my campaign promise, for the government to ensure that every Filipino family is able to cope with the problems of high prices, lack of jobs and low income so that they can lift themselves up out of poverty and feel the benefits of the growing economy. I will keep my promise and I ask each and every member of this new Congress to do the same", he said

Cayetano, on the first day of the 16th Congress, also filed his version of the Freedom of Information Act, Amendments on the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the Orphan Trust Fund Bill, and the Special Needs Fund for Children Bill.