MANILA - The chairman of the House appropriations committee said Wednesday that lawmakers have identified sources for P16 billion in funds that could be used to support free college education next year.

"Makakatulog na ng mahimbing ang ating Pangulong Duterte. Together with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), we have achieved a breakthrough and managed to identify at least P16 billion [in] funds," Davao City Congressman Karlo Nograles said.

Nograles said this after meeting with Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, CHEd Chairperson Patricia Licuanan and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Secretary-General Guiling Mamondiong.

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier said there were no funds yet available to implement the free college tuition act, which he signed into law on Aug. 4.

Nograles said that the P16 billion fund would come from various scholarships in different departments that could be pooled together and consolidated for the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.

Nograles said this does not include additional funds that may be carved out of under-performing and under-spending agencies.

Diokno earlier said that lawmakers may need to cut the budgets of some departments and agencies to fund free college education in state universities and colleges.

The DBM initially estimated that the government would need P100 billion to support the education of 1.7 million college students.

CHEd Commissioner Prospero De Vera, on the other hand, estimated that the government would only need P34.1 billion to implement the law.

Nograles said officials were still determining the number of students who should be covered by the free higher education law to find out how much is needed to ensure its full implementation.

He estimated that the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the free college education law would be finished within 15 days.