Sen. Gatchalian: P8B worth of education subsidy spent on ‘non-poor” students 

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday revealed that around P8 billion worth of educational assistance, supposedly for underprivileged learners, is spent annually for “non-poor” students under a program of the Department of Education (DepEd). 

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said that this “leakage” came from the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) program, which is under the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE).

The ESC seeks to decongest overcrowded public junior high schools by shouldering the tuition of eligible students who wish to enter private schools contracted by DepEd.

However, the lawmaker said that there are non-poor students who benefit from the program when private schools allocate them slots for the subsidy that is already being used as a “discount.” 

“Let’s say I give you 40 slots. Kung walang nag-apply, kahit sino na lang pwedeng kunin mo. Ang nangyari, binibigyan ka na ng allotment, ‘pag walang naga-apply na mahirap kasi may top up, ang naga-apply na lang ang non-poor. And then the subsidy, they use it as a discount,” Gatchalian said in a Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum. 

(Let’s say I give you 40 slots. If no one applied, you can have anyone else apply. If poor students don’t apply, the non-poor ones do so. The subsidy is now being used as a discount by private schools.) 

“The program is defective and we see an estimate namin almost, a year, P8 billion ang pumupunta sa [goes to the] non-poor,” he added. 

Gatchalian said that the GASTPE program gets an annual budget of around P35 billion. 

Since these are public funds being paid by taxpayers, he stressed that equity should be observed and that underprivileged learners should be prioritized first as beneficiaries. 

“To be honest, marami akong kaibigan na nakakuha ng ganitong subsidy at alam ko every summer nasa Japan, every Christmas nasa America…nasa Singapore, nanonood ng Taylor Swift. It’s not fair,” he admitted. 

(To be honest, I have many friends who got the subsidy, but I know that every summer they are in Japan, every Christmas they are in America…and some of them are now in Singapore, watching Taylor Swift’s concert. It’s not fair.) 

GMA News Online has reached out to the Department of Education for comment, but it has yet to reply as of posting time. 

Meanwhile, asked if this could be considered as malversation of public funds, Gatchalian said that the guidelines do not specifically state that the poor should be prioritized, that’s why some private schools take advantage of it. 

“That’s why I’m pushing to fix or to tweak or to amend the Department Order. It’s a problem of the DO that’s why the implementation became like that,” he added. 

Last week, the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) disclosed that a total of 12,675 private school students have benefitted from the scholarship program even if they were tagged as ineligible based on the guidelines set by DepEd. 

“Isa sa pinakamalaking naging concern natin ay ‘yung mga ALS (Alternative Learning System) completers na nagiging voucher recipients dahil dinedeklara sila ng kanilang mga eskwelahan na voucher-eligible, na pwede naman nating paniwalaan na talagang may pangangailangan ‘yung mga bata, ngunit hindi sila pumasok sa voucher application which is ‘yun ang tamang guideline,” PEAC executive director Rhodora Ferrer said. 

(One of our biggest concerns are the ALS completers who become voucher recipients because their schools declared them as voucher-eligible, but they did not apply in the voucher program.)

Ferrer also noted that about P239 million out of P300 million remain to be unrefunded by schools as of SY 2022-2023. She said they are targeting to have all schools settle the amount before the opening of SY 2024-2025. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News