‘P7 billion senior high vouchers went to non-poor’

MANILA, Philippines — Aside from around 19,000 “ghosts” or undocumented students receiving government assistance, more than P7 billion was spent on non-poor beneficiaries of the senior high school voucher program (SHS-VP), according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

“For me, it’s wastage and leakage. We need to correct this immediately. I plan to raise this during our budget hearing because we have to ensure that every centavo allocated to the government goes to our poor learners and efficient projects and programs. For me, based on the data we have seen, it shows that we’re not being efficient,” he said.

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, raised the issue during a hearing on the implementation of the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE) Act.

The Senate panel earlier discovered that private schools have been accepting financial assistance from the government but could not prove the existence of almost 19,000 undocumented students who are supposed to benefit from the funds.

Based on state auditors’ investigation, 115 senior high school student beneficiaries in school year 2016-2017 were considered “ghost students” after they received vouchers twice in one year.

Citing estimates from his office, Gatchalian pointed out that for SY 2021-2022, P7.21 billion or 53 percent of the P13.69 billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.

For SY 2019-2020, P7.30 billion or 39 percent of the P18.76 billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.

The SHS-VP provides subsidies, in the form of vouchers, to qualified students from participating private and non-Department of Education (DepEd) schools.

Gatchalian recalled that for SY 2021-2022, 70 percent of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households, according to data from the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey 2020 and 2022.

For SY 2019-2020, 64 percent of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households, he added.

Gatchalian observed a similar trend at a previous hearing.

In the implementation of the Educational Service Contracting program, which is a component of GASTPE, 68 percent of ESC recipients for SY 2020-2021 were from non-poor households.

This caused a leakage of up to P8.6 billion based on estimates from the senator’s office.

The Commission on Audit’s 2018 Performance Audit Report already raised that DepEd grants subsidies even to students from non-poor families.

In the same report, state auditors also recommended that DepEd prioritize underprivileged learners.

DepEd Government Assistance and Subsidies Office director III Tara Rama assured the Senate panel that GASTPE’s guidelines will be revised to address issues, including the non-prioritization of underprivileged learners.

Medical schools

The Marcos administration has been urged to open more medical schools in state universities and colleges (SUC) to produce more doctors in the country.

“Congress must enable highly advanced SUCs, particularly those in the provinces, to put up their own medical schools where tuition fees are at least partly paid for by the state,” House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan proposed.

He noted that there are only seven medical schools of the 116 SUCs nationwide.

Libanan made the statement as he batted for the immediate passage of his bill seeking to establish the Eastern Samar State University College of Medicine. — Delon Porcalla