Courtesy: Tingog Partylist
THE House Committee on Higher and Technical Education on Tuesday approved at the committee level House Bill No. 7875, or the proposed Philippine Global Education City Act, a measure that seeks to position the Philippines as a regional hub for world-class higher education, research, and educational tourism.
The bill is principally authored by Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, TINGOG Party-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez, Andrew Julian Romualdez, and Jude Acidre.
House Committee on Higher and Technical Education Chairperson and TINGOG Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said the measure responds to a persistent gap in the country’s higher education system: while the Philippines continues to produce a large pool of skilled and globally competitive graduates, opportunities for advanced, world-class education and research remain limited, often pushing talent to seek these abroad.
At the center of the proposal is the establishment of Global Education Cities (GECs). These designated zones will host foreign higher education institutions (FHEIs) of recognized international standing. Within these zones, institutions may operate at global standards under a defined regulatory framework while remaining aligned with national development priorities and constitutional safeguards.
The measure is structured to ensure that the entry of global institutions strengthens, rather than displaces, the local higher education sector. It introduces safeguards to preserve the international character of foreign campuses and ensure complementarity with domestic institutions, while directing programs toward high-demand and underserved fields.
To maximize impact, the bill organizes these institutions into specialized academic clusters, including medicine, maritime sciences, engineering, information technology, business, and governance. These are supported by targeted fiscal and operational incentives aligned with national priorities such as healthcare capacity, disaster resilience, digital transformation, and workforce development.
Sponsoring the measure, Rep. Andrew Julian Romualdez emphasized that the bill aims to build globally competitive learning environments within the country and create direct pathways between Filipino talent and world-class institutions, industries, and opportunities.
“What we are building here is not just a policy framework. We are building destinations of learning. Places where a student from Tacloban, or Tawi-Tawi, or Quezon City can walk into a classroom and encounter the world—without having to leave home.”
He added that the measure seeks to transform the Philippines from a sender of talent into a center of gravity for knowledge, where the same world-class education Filipinos seek abroad can be found here—rooted in Filipino values, responsive to local realities, and accessible to its people.
“At its core, this bill asks a simple but urgent question: What if the future did not require our young people—our pag-asa ng bayan—to leave?” Romualdez said.
Prior to the committee’s approval of the bill, Acidre reiterated that the proposal is designed to complement the country’s existing higher education institutions, positioning Global Education Cities as a platform to raise standards across the system.
“We were very careful to ensure that funding is not at the expense of our local higher education institutions. Rather, these are designed to bring in additional resources that ultimately support the totality of our higher education system,” he said.
He added, “We want to raise our standards and strengthen our capacities so that, in the end, this enriches our overall workforce development while also contributing to a stronger education export sector.”
House Bill No. 7875 ultimately seeks to transform the Philippines into a premier destination for global education, generating high-value jobs, strengthening research and innovation, and creating globally competitive career pathways for Filipinos. By opening the country to world-class institutions while reinforcing the foundations of its local higher education system, the measure positions education not only as a social good, but as a strategic driver of national development: one that ensures Filipino talent can thrive, compete, and lead, without having to leave home.
