NORTHERN Samar Rep. and Senior Deputy Minority Leader Paul Daza has told the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education that the disputed P10billion Higher Education Development Fund (HDEF) has been used before for scholarships of tertiary students, contrary to the statement of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Prospero de Vera III.
Daza said P2 billion or more than half of the HEDF in 2016 was “used for student-related support” or “the provision of assistance, incentives, scholarships, and grants through Student Financial Assistance Programs.”
“Meaning there’s already precedent for HEDF to be utilized by CHED for poor students, needy students,” he stressed, adding that “by the time chairman De Vera took over in 2019, the share for student assistance has dwindled down to P170 million, or 18.7% of the HEDF.”
Daza said he also reviewed the country’s law that established the travel tax which showed that the revenue mandate of the Tourism Act of 2019 (Republic Act No. 9593) did not exclusively cater to students taking tourism-related courses, but only prioritized them, meaning the rest of the funds can also be allocated for scholarships of other students.
Daza made the clarification during the recent hearing of the House committee on House Resolution No. 767, which he authored, that seeks to improve access to tertiary education while reducing dropout rates among the poor Filipino students.
Daza has proposed tapping more funding sources for scholarships after finding reports that enrollment in private and public schools took a significant dip and ‘millions’ of students have been unable to continue their studies.
“Pag ang puso po natin andyan, talagang gusto po natin tulungan yung mga mahihirap. Pwedeng gamitin ng CHED yung P10 billion today without having to wait for the next GAA (General Appropriations Act) budget deliberation (If our hearts are in it, if we really wanted to help the poor, CHED can use the P10 billion today without having to wait for the next GAA budget deliberations),” Daza said.
“Nandyan po ‘yung listahan sa inyo: 1 million students. Gamitin po ninyo ‘yan (The list is with you: 1 million students. Please, use it),” he added.
