Tingog Partylist Representative and House Committee on Higher and Technical Education Chairperson, Cong. Jude Acidre, met with the local members of the press and engaged in a question-and-answer session at the Palawan State University (PalawanSU) Hostel on June 18, 2026.
As a member of the PalawanSU Board of Regents, the lawmaker sat down with journalists to address immediate inquiries regarding state-funded subsidies, higher education policies, and incoming developmental initiatives tailored for Palawan. During the exchange, local media pressed Cong. Acidre on how the university can sustain the massive influx of students given that its General Appropriations Act (GAA) allocation remains completely stagnant and disproportionate to enrollment growth as well as being further compounded by the millions of pesos that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) still owes the institution as unsettled deficits from the Free Higher Education (FHE) subsidy over the past years.
Cong. Acidre clarified that this funding crisis is not unique to PalawanSU and emphasized that state universities and colleges (SUCs) across the country are facing the exact same bottleneck. He noted that the limited national budget severely constrains the number of students that SUCs can safely accommodate while maintaining quality.
The discussion highlighted the reality that national government funds are not enough, and that Local Government Units must step up and co-fund human capital development. Given the limited absorptive capacity of existing SUCs, the forum brought to light recommendations for Palawan LGUs to establish Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs).
Furthermore, Cong. Acidre addressed alternative proposals such as establishing a University of the Philippines Palawan campus and noted that such a venture is mathematically unfeasible at this time. The highly competitive UP College Admission Test (UPCAT), which has an acceptance rate of less than 15%, would yield too few qualifiers to optimize resources across multiple programs, especially when weighed against UP’s distinct, high-cost faculty salary grade system.
Throughout his Q&A session with the media, Cong. Acidre underscored the urgent need for structural reforms and the importance of a stronger local government partnerships to sustain the province’s growing student population.
Cong. Acidre served as the Guest Speaker of the PalawanSU-Oriental Cluster Joint Commencement Exercises in Roxas, Palawan.
