via Ariel Jansen T. Almendra
Ignorance.
It is infuriating that in a country where education should be the most urgent battle, some people still choose to demonize it. When Rep. Chel Diokno championed additional funding for CHED to support free higher education, it should have been celebrated as a win for every struggling student. Instead, critics resorted to the same tired narrative: that scholarships are breeding grounds for insurgency, that CHED’s budget is somehow a backdoor for NPA recruitment.
This kind of thinking is not only shallow—it is dangerous. It reduces education, the most powerful tool against poverty, into a political scare tactic.
Let’s call it as it is. Strengthening CHED’s funding means strengthening the nation. Every peso invested in scholarships, subsidies, and programs translates into more graduates who can compete in the workforce, uplift their families, and contribute to national progress. Cutting CHED’s budget—or painting it as suspicious—isn’t just an attack on an institution.
It’s an attack on every Filipino student who dares to dream of a better life.
It’s time to reclaim the conversation. If some still want to label this as “NPA” then let’s redefine it:
NPA – “Nurturing People’s Ambition.”
Because that’s what CHED funding does. It nurtures ambition. It turns children of farmers, vendors, and workers into engineers, teachers, doctors, and leaders. It transforms tuition fees into diplomas, and diplomas into futures.
The real threat is not free education, it is a society where young Filipinos are denied the chance to study, forced instead into cycles of poverty and despair. That is what truly weakens a nation.
So let’s stop vilifying CHED’s mission. Let’s stop attacking free education. If we want to win the real war—the war against ignorance, poverty, and inequality—then funding education is not just an option. It is the frontline.
Because the future of the Philippines will not be written by rebels with guns.
It will be written by graduates with pens.
