Photo Release

P250 Million Cut in Medical Scholarship Program for ’21: Sen. Joel Villanueva, during Wednesday’s hybrid plenary session, December 9, 2020, expresses concern over the reduction of P250 million in the Commission on Higher Education’s budget for the medical scholarship program under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act. Villanueva noted that the Senate version of the budget for the program is P1.15 billion, but under the bicameral committee report, it was reduced to P802 million. “I know it's not just the decision of the Senate or the chair, but I just want to put that on record because if you can recall, Mr. President, when we were discussing the Doktor Para sa Bayan measure that we passed, we were talking and envisioning that by next year, we will be able to double the number of medical scholars,” the senator said. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)