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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider CHED chief denies 'negligence' over tertiary education subsidy payment delay

CHED chief denies 'negligence' over tertiary education subsidy payment delay

Published Apr 17, 2024 01:33 pm

Amid allegations of delayed Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) payments for Academic years (AYs) 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera III on Wednesday, April 17, denied news reports about his negligence of duties and responsibilities.

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(CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera / Photo from CHED)

Citing news reports saying Agapito Lubaton of Marvelous College of Technology and 10 students from Marvelous College and Goldenstate College of Koronadal City, De Vera said he was accused of failure to provide action in the two-year delay in payment of TES for "no apparent and valid reason.”

"This is to respond to the recent news reports on a complaint filed against me for the negligence of duties and responsibilities as a public official," De Vera said in a statement.

While the CHED had not received these complaints and he could not comment on the specifics of their allegations, he still denied being "negligent.”

De Vera explained that policy decisions were made collegially by the UniFAST Governing Board and not individually by himself.

“Why am I being singled out for a policy decision that I cannot make individually but is collegially made by the UniFAST Board?” he asked.

He pointed out that Marvelous College had received a total of P157,653,600 for AYs 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, which was part of the cost for tertiary education of these Filipino students as provided under Section 7 of RA 10931.

“There are 1,275 continuing qualified TES student-grantees enrolled in Marvelous College and CHED Region 12 has released the funds for them,” he said.

De Vera also said it was “not true” that the students had not received money from CHED-UniFAST.

He added that claims of unfairness were “unfounded” as subsidy amounts were set by UniFAST guidelines and approved by the UniFAST Board.

“Free Higher Education clearly states that the amount of subsidy is set by the UniFAST Board and subject to availability of funds,” the statement read.

He added that the alleged unreceived payments lacked “factual basis”.

De Vera emphasized that budget constraints during the pandemic and the congressional realignments in the 2021 and 2022 GAA had reduced the budget for the TES in RA 10931.

As a result, this had affected the number of TES grantees for AY 2021-2022, however, CHED had looked for other funding sources to assist TES grantees.

“Marvelous College received their TES for AY 2021-2023 and 1,498 new TES grantees enrolled in Marvelous College received their TES for AY 2021-2023,” it added.

Furthermore, the chairman said that “no violation of ease of doing business had occurred.”

He also explained that delays in disbursement were due to a lack of funds allocated by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to CHED, as confirmed by regional offices.

The same complaint was raised by Mr. Lubaton to the DBM. To reiterate the statement of DBM Regional Office XII, CHED has said that funds are depleted and cannot meet additional requirements, but this doesn't signify a delay because fund utilization varies and may not cover all expenses according to CHED's guidelines and fund availability.

Lubaton also raised a complaint to the DBM about the funds allocated by CHED.

In response, DBM Regional Office XII said that although CHED claimed that the funds are depleted, this does not necessarily mean that there will be delays because "fund utilization varies and may not cover all expenses according to CHED's guidelines and fund availability," it said.

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Commission on Higher Education (CHED) CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera
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