Bill eyes free tuition for state workers taking master’s degree at SUCs

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada eyes free tuition for government employees pursuing a master’s degree in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Estrada filed Senate Bill No. 2277, known as the “Government Employees Free MA Tuition in SUCs Act” which seeks to provide career and non-career government employees with the opportunity to pursue a two-year master’s program in state universities and colleges (SUCs) without worrying about their tuitions.

As of June 30, 2022, the Inventory of Government Human Resources (IGHR) of the Civil Service Com - mission (CSC) indicated there are 1,820,457 career and non-career employees in the bureaucracy.

The cost of a securing a master’s degree varies from P800 to P1,500 per unit, resulting in tuitions ranging from P19,200 to P50,000 for the completion of a 24-unit program.

Additional fees related to various ac-

By Vito Barcelo and Joel E. Zurbano

BUREAU of Customs (BOC) agents have seized P3.9 million worth of shabu and smuggled cigarettes in separate operations in Polomolok, South Cotabato and in Clark, Pampanga.

The operations were carried out in close coordination with the BOC’s Intelligence Investigation Service (CIIS) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The smuggled cigarettes were confiscated during an entrapment operation conducted under CIDG’s Flagship Project, “Oplan Mega Shopper” which aims to combat smuggling, manufacturing, distribution, and trading of counterfeited products. Appropriate criminal charges were being prepared against the suspects.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs-Port of Clark, in coordination with Customs Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force (CAIDTF) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region III, arrested the claimant of the seized shipment containing P3.160 million worth of shabu in Makati City.

tivities required for the degree are not included in the amount.

To be eligible for the program, non-career contractual government personnel must have at least five years of employment and pass the entrance examination and other admission and retention requirements of the SUCs.

The BOC discovered the illegal drugs through profiling made by Customs personnel in a shipment declared as “two slice bread toaster” from Pennsylvania, USA. “Customs examiner conducted a physical examination of the shipment which led to the discovery of four pouches of white crystalline substances weighing 458 grams concealed inside two bread toasters,” the BOC said in a statement.