The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday assured that it is exhausting all means to speed up the distribution of of subsidies under the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 to students in the basic education sector.

During the Laging Handa Public Briefing, DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla explained that there are some issues and processes that need to be addressed first before the subsidies are distributed to qualified students.

“We had a share of P300 million for the DepEd, P300 million for CHEd ,” Sevilla said.

“Medyo natagalan ang DepEd sa pag-umpisa at pag-finalize ng ating application process for the subsidy kasi mas malaki ang coverage kasama ang public and private learners - from kinder to Grade 12 and nationwide din (There was a delay in finalizing the application process for the subsidy because we have a bigger coverage which include public and private schools - from Kinder to Grade 12 nationwide),” she added.

Currently, Sevilla said that the application process is still ongoing, thus, nothing has been disbursed yet. “Gagawin namin ito as soon as makuha namin ang mga list of applications (We will do this as soon as we get the list of the applications),” she explained.

Sevilla noted that there will be P5,000-subsidy for students who have unpaid tuition fees in private schools and P3,000 allowance for public school students who are in need.

“May mga kondisyon ito na nakalagay sa batas ang iyan ang kasama sa ating guidelines (There are conditions in the law that we have to comply with and these are all included in our guidelines),” Sevilla said.

While the validation, monitoring at complying with the conditions set by the law cause delay, Sevilla assured that the financial subsidy will be distributed to the students. “Don’t worry, the P300 million is available,” she added.

Earlier, Senatior Sherwin Gatchalian urged DepEd distribute the subsidies “Bayanihan 2” to students in basic education as soon as possible.

The “Bayanihan 2” - which is the government’s second COVID-19 pandemic relief measure - allotted a total of P600 million as financial aid to qualified students from basic to higher education.

Under the law, the qualified students in basic education are those who are not covered by the Listahanan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This is also applicable to those who are not covered by the Education Service Contracting (ESC) program and the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHSVP) which are both under DepEd.