Administrators of some private schools are furious.

As if dealing with the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on their operations was not enough, a proposal that threatens their “peaceful innate policy” is now being pushed through Senate Bill No. 2010 or Anti-Withholding of Student Records Act by Senator Joel Villanueva.

The Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA) on Tuesday slammed Villanueva’s proposed bill, comparing it to the “Chinese intrusion” in South China Sea.

FAPSA President Eleazardo Kasilag said that Villanueva’s bill “fits a pattern of destabilizing the peaceful innate policy of the private schools much like the aggressive behavior” of the Chinese in the South China Sea. “It shook the entire private schools (sector) in the country,” he added.

Villanueva is proposing an act prohibiting education institutions from withholding the official records of students because of non-payment of tuition and other school fees. If passed, Kasilag said that this will be a huge blow to the already ailing private schools.

“Private schools have rights to claim fees from students who enrolled in our program just as the public schools teachers are paid by our taxes,” Kasilag said. “Acquiring debt is not a merit to learning; it behooves payment for services rendered,” he added.

Kasilag explained that tuition fees in private schools “is not like a loan which can accumulate and pay it off with promissory note.”

For FAPSA, Villanueva’s bill “misses the consequence of affecting the private schools administrators who have been wallowing in survival mode even before the pandemic.”

Kasilag added that Villanueva’s bill “intimidates the established matriculation program” - adding that this “curtails the bread and butter of teachers in the private schools.”

FAPSA lamented that the proposed bill does not only trespass the school administrators but the teachers as well. As allowed by the Department of Education (DepEd), 70 percent of the fees of students goes to the salary of teachers, 20 percent to facilities and 10 percent for return on investment. “How can teachers be paid if students will not matriculate?” he added.

Kasilag said that the bill, which “intrudes into our peaceful policy,” also threatens private schools with penalties. “Any employee who violates shall be punished with P50,000.00 or imprisonment of six months, or both, at the discretion of the Court,” he said. “Not only that, the school found to have violated the act shall be cancelled of its permit to operate by the DepED and pay P100, 000,” he lamented.

For FAPSA, Villanueva’s bill is a “declaration of war” between the senate and the private schools. The group also asked the Senator to stop using the said bill to “favor” his re-electoral bill. “FAPSA believes that any politician who espouses the right to run away from debt gives a bitter pill to the public for his reelection,” Kasilag ended.