Senator Pia Cayetano's Manifestation
On Senate Bill No 1520 (under Committee Report No. 86) or the Medical Scholarship and Return Service Program bill

I'd like to put on record that in 2015, we passed the Unified Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education, otherwise known as UniFAST. This was a bill initially filed by the late Senator Ed Angara. It's a good day to remember him because today (May 13) is his death anniversary.

If I am not mistaken, our colleague, Senator Sonny, was still in the House when that version was filed. So we passed this in 2015, and the objective of this law is to reconcile, improve, strengthen, expand, and put under one body all government-funded modalities of student financial assistance programs. That would include grants, financial assistance, loans, etc.

And so as the Chairman of the Committee on Education at that time, similar to Senator Sonny's manifestation, I was of the view that these medical scholarships would be covered.

Nevertheless, I am in full support and would also like to be made a sponsor because as we know, many times, it requires a legislative push to really bring something to the attention of the nation. Even though that authority is already there, this bill will give that needed push to prioritize medical scholarships.

Thank you, Mr. President.