Sen. Grace Poe commended the settlement of the Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) P6 billion debt and approved of its use for funding free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs).
“[T]he money will go to a noble and much-needed government program — that of free tuition for SUCs, the funding of which is an immediate concern,” she said in a statement today, Nov. 7.
Malacañang had announced earlier that the money will contribute to the achievement of free tertiary education in the Philippines, a goal stipulated by Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act which President Rodrigo Duterte signed in August.
PAL paid a total of P5,936,481,845 in cheques to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Manila International Airport Authority on Nov. 3 to settle navigational fees they owed the government since the 1970s.
“Given that the outstanding arrears of PAL amount to P6.91 billion for navigational charges, I think that the settlement of P6 billion is acceptable,” Poe said.
“The settlement expedites the collection proceedings and for me, this is a good compromise,” she added.
