A LAWMAKER on Wednesday called for an audit of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to find out what became of the P10.3 billion earmarked for the free tuition and living allowances of thousands of poor students enrolled in state universities and colleges (SUCs) and in private higher educational institutions.
In calling for an audit, Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza was reacting to complaints by the Association of Higher Education Institution (AHEI) in Region 12 against CHEd for the non-payment of student scholarships under the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education or UniFAST, which is mandated to ensure that all eligible Filipinos get access to adequate and equitable education.
The P10.3 billion is part of the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF) allocated to the CHEd, which comes from the earnings of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), and travel taxes.
"Those are earmarked funds by law and cannot be used outside of their specified purpose," Daza told The Manila Times, adding that if the said amount is not used, it would just stay idle at the National Treasury.
At the same time, Daza called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order a review of CHEd's performance pertaining to education standards, enrollment and graduation and dropout rates.
"I am really disappointed with CHEd. The President probably should order an internal review of the CHEd's performance," he said, noting the reported dropout rate of 30 percent to 40 percent a year.
"You have P10 billion, but you don't use it. I suspect there is a hidden agenda. That should be reviewed and investigated by the Commission on Audit and Malacañang," Daza said.
The Manila Times tried but failed to get a comment from CHEd.
Under the UniFAST program, scholars are to be provided P30,000 per semester for tuition and living allowances. CHEd is supposed to remit the funding to the SUCs or local universities and colleges or private HEIs.
Agapito Lubaton, AHEI president and chief executive officer of the Marvelous College in Koronadal City, said CHEd's total unpaid dues for school year 2021-2023 amount to P2.1 billion.
They also complained that just recently, CHEd suddenly changed the guidelines so that fewer scholars were qualified for school year 2022-2023.
"Many schools suffer because while waiting for payment, students still attend school without paying their school fees," Lubaton said, adding that in his school, out of 1,800 aspiring grantees, only 36 qualified as scholars because of the new guidelines.
At a hearing conducted last year by the House Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Higher and Technical Education, CHEd Chairman Prospero de Vera 3rd said they have no funds to pay schools.
But on Aug.14, 2023, Rep. Mark Go directed the CHEd to pay all its scholarship debts to students and told it to use the P10.3 billion fund earmarked for this purpose.
CHEd was given a week to comply from the date of the hearing in August 2023. The Department of Budget and Management was also instructed to act on it immediately.
On Sept. 22, 2023, CHEd made a partial payment covering a third of tuition but has not covered the allowances yet.