SENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchalian bared an over P7-billion Senior High School (SHS) voucher program funds spent on non-poor beneficiaries.
“The government spent more than P7 billion on non-poor beneficiaries of the senior high school voucher program [SHS-VP],” the senator flagged, reminding that the SHS-VP is a program of financial assistance, where qualified SHS learners from participating private and non-Department of Education (DepEd) schools receive subsidies in the form of vouchers.
Gatchalian, the presiding chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, shared this observation during a hearing on the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 8545 or the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-Gastpe) Act.
Citing estimates from his office, Gatchalian pointed out that for School Year (SY) 2021-2022, P7.21 billion or 53 percent of the P13.69 billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners. The solon added that for SY 2019-2020, P7.30 billion or 39 percent of the P18.76-billion allocation for the SHS-VP “went to non-poor learners.”
Moreover, the senator cited data from the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey 2020 and 2022, as Gatchalian also pointed out that “for SY 2021-2022, 70 percent of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households.”
“For me, it’s wastage and leakage,” Gatchalian griped, stressing that “we need to correct this immediately and I plan to raise this during our budget hearing because we have to make sure that every centavo allocated to the government goes to our poor learners and efficient projects and programs. For me, based on the data that we have seen, it shows that we’re not being efficient.”
The lawmaker also recalled a previous hearing when he observed a similar trend in the implementation of the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) program, which is a component of the GASTPE. Gatchalian noted that for SY 2020-2021, 68 percent of ESC recipients were from non-poor households, adding: “This caused a leakage of up to P8.6 billion based on estimates from the senator’s office.”
Moreover, the senator also noted “a 2018 Performance Audit Report by the Commission on Audit [COA] already raised that DepEd grants subsidies even to students from poor families. In the same report, state auditors also recommended that DepEd prioritize underprivileged learners.”
At the same time, Tara C. Rama, Director III of the DepEd’s Government Assistance and Subsidies Office, assured the basic education panel that GASTPE’s guidelines will be revised to address issues, including the non-prioritization of underprivileged learners.