Several videos claiming that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos is the “original author” or the one behind the Free College Tuition Law are circulating online. This is false.
Since May 14, some Facebook (FB) users and a TikTok account have posted a 55-second clip of Marcos’ speech in 2015, where he advocated for free tuition in state universities and colleges (SUCs). A screenshot of a press release on the same topic posted that same year was also overlaid.
A May 14 TikTok video carried the text:
“Libreng Kolehiyo ni Senator Marcos (Free college of Senator Marcos). Don’t forget the original author of free tuition in all state college (sic). It’s PBBM.”
A FB reel posted on May 15 and containing the same clip bore the text:
“FREE COLLEGE TUITION BILL NI PBBM, DI PINANSIN NI P-NOY DAHIL WALA DAW PONDO (FREE COLLEGE TUITION BILL OF PBBM, IGNORED BY P-NOY SUPPOSEDLY DUE TO THE LACK OF FUNDS). We should also give credit “batas na libreng kolehiyo” (free college tuition law) to PBBM. He is one behind of that law.. aside from Bam Aquino, Win Gatchalian, Ralph Recto.”
These posts are false. While Marcos pushed for free college tuition in SUCs in the speech and press release mentioned, he never filed a bill on this, neither as a senator nor a congressman.
A look into his records as senator in the 15th and 16th Congress (2010- 2016) shows that Marcos did not file such a bill. There are also no records of him filing for free college tuition when he was a congressman in the 9th (1992 – 1995) and 14th (2007-2010) Congress .
The president was not a senator when the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act was passed in the 17th Congress and signed into law by former president Rodrigo Duterte. Newly proclaimed Sen. Bam Aquino was one of the authors and the principal sponsor of the bill.
The circulating clip was originally uploaded by Marcos’ official FB page after he attended an ABAKADA partylist event in Manila on Nov. 15, 2015. He was running for vice president that time.
The false claim circulated two days after the midterm polls, where Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV won a senatorial seat. Several posts questioning his role in the law’s passage have since resurfaced.
READ: FACT SHEET: Who should take credit for the free college tuition law?
VERA Files has been debunking disinformation related to the law as early as 2018.
The false TikTok post has so far garnered 4,686 reactions, 516 comments, 829 shares and 39,700 views. Three videos posted by FB users and pages such as Unofficial PBBM News (created on July 22, 2024) and Pilipinas sa pagbabago (created on Jan. 9, 2016 as Pilipinas Kung Mahal Tungo Sa Pagbabago) also collectively garnered 14,100 reactions, 3,073 comments and 785,000 views as of writing.
