House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin (MANILA BULLETIN)

Priorities, please. 

House Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 1st district Rep. Janette Garin has told the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to spend its precious resources first on students' scholarships, instead of what she called non-essential expenditures. 

“There’s a big difference between wants and needs. Maybe eto ‘yung checklist niyo pero mas kailangan siguro ng ating mga kabataan ngayon na mabayaran [ang tuition fees],” the House Committee of Appropriations vice chairperson said. 

(These may be in your checklist, but our youth who don't have the means to pay for their tuition needs it more.) 

One of the major sticking points during CHEd's 2024 budget hearing before the appropriations panel Tuesday, Sept. 12 was the agency's debt to higher education institutions (HEIs). Chairman Popoy de Vera led the CHEd officials who attended the budget hearing. 

Garin took CHEd to task for its supposed "huge expenses" that didn't have anything to do with scholarships. 

“Bilyon-bilyon ang ginagamit natin dito sa mga paggawa ng guidelines, biyahe, bisita, research kunyari, pang-evaluate ng performance. Do we really need this huge expense?” she asked 

(Billions are spent on crafting guidelines, travels, visitations and faux research, and performance evolutions.) 

Garin further said that CHEd may collaborate with other agencies on programs such as the Integration of Natural Green and Renewable Energy towards sustainable schools, citing that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Energy (DOE) have the same projects. 

“CHEd always says ang daming kailangan ng mga estudyante (CHEd always says that students have a lot of needs) [but] apparently you are not that keen on directly giving the assistance to our students because we are at a point na ang dami ngayon na hirap na hirap na gumastos ng pang tuition (where a lot of people can't afford to pay) because we are in the midst of challenging times,” the lady lawmaker pointed out. 

In 2023, CHEd proposed a total expenditure program of P30.7 billion, with P29.3 billion or 98.5 percent designated for funding scholarships through the Higher Education Development Program (HEDP). 

For 2024, the agency's proposed budget increased to P31 billion; however, there was a slight decrease in the allocation for HEDP, which now stands at P29 billion.