Pangilinan: Kasangga ng private schools ang gobyerno sa pag-aaral ng kabataan ngayong pandemya

A FEW weeks after the signing of a law allowing preferential tax treatment to private schools, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan stresses the important role that these institutions play in the continuous delivery of quality education to Filipino students amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his acceptance speech during the thanksgiving tribute for the lawmakers who supported the measure hosted by the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) Thursday afternoon, Pangilinan said the government has the duty to ensure that students have access to quality education even during a crisis.

"[K]ayo ang dapat naming pasalamatan dahil ginawa ninyo ang lahat ng inyong makakaya upang mapanatili at makapagpatuloy ng edukasyon ang milyon-milyon nating mga kabataan sa gitna ng napakalaki at napakatagal na hamon ng Covid 19," Pangilinan said.

"Naging kasangga kayo ng pamahalaan upang magampanan natin ang tungkulin natin sa ating mga anak," he added.

By virtue of Republic Act No. 11635, private schools, regardless if for profit or non-profit, are qualified to apply for a concessionary tax rate of one percent through the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.

This rectifies the previous regulation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue imposing a sky-high 150 percent tax to private educational institutions.

According to Pangilinan, the CREATE Law was passed to aid private institutions greatly affected by the pandemic, thus the entire House membership was caught off-guard when wrong interpretations of the law arose.

COCOPEA, through its chairman Dr. Anthony Tamayo, earlier lauded the lawmakers who pushed for the passage of the law, saying the private schools needed the reprieve more than ever.

"Education, as a public good, certainly deserves such significance and priority being given by our honorable senators," Tamayo said.

In the past two years that the education sector reeled from the ill effects of the pandemic, Pangilinan mentioned that he kept in touch with Tamayo, who personally provided him pertinent information about the situation of some private schools.

"Dahil lugmok sa kahirapan ang marami nating mga kababayan at lubhang naapektuhan ang sektor ng edukasyon, marami ang nagsarang mga paaralan," Pangilinan said.

But despite these lingering problems, the lawmaker is confident that the private educational institutions will overcome all these as long as they continue working hand-in-hand with the government.

"Kung mayroon akong natutunan dito sa karanasan natin sa dalawang taon ng Covid ay kinakailangan natin ang isa't isa. Sa pamamagitan ng ating pakikipagtulungan, pakikipag-kapwa, pakikipagdamayan, malalagpasan din natin ang pagsubok na ito," Pangilinan said.

"Sa patuloy na pagtutulungan ng gobyerno at ng pribadong sektor gaya ninyo, malalampasan din natin hindi lamang ang krisis sa kalusugan at ekonomiya, at pati na rin ang krisis sa ating sistema ng ating edukasyon," he added.

Pangilinan also thanked COCOPEA's leadership along with the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) for the commendation given to him and his fellow lawmakers who backed the Senate counterpart of the law.

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/16v0NE9mc3Edti-Eruhj_ZdWMKGY2wWmd/view?usp=sharing

[VIDEO] ACCEPTANCE MESSAGE OF SENATOR FRANCIS "KIKO" PANGILINAN DURING THE THANKSGIVING TRIBUTE FOR THE AUTHORS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11635, OR AN ACT AMENDING SECTION 27(B) OF THE NATIONAL INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1997