CHED withholds reimbursements for some schools over compliance issues

Some Schools' reimbursements under the Free Higher Education (FHE) program have been withheld for their failure to comply with some requirements, the Commission on Higher Education said.

In a statement released on Friday, the CHED said some state universities and colleges (SUCs), as well as local universities and colleges (LUCs) should comply with requrements to protect public funds against misuse.

“CHED has the responsibility to protect the utilization of public funds,” CHED and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) chairperson Prospero E. De Vera III said.

“If some public universities do not comply with government requirements, or worse, claim reimbursement of fees not allowed under RA10931, then CHED will not download the funds to them,” he added.

De Vera made the statement in response to the questions raised by several members of the House of Representatives during the budget deliberation last Wednesday on the proposed 2021 budget of CHED.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers Representative France Castro claimed that some SUCs waited for six to eight months before receiving reimbursement, which prompted some schools to lay off some personnel.

During the budget hearing, De Vera admitted that the CHED lacks manpower. However, he noted that some schools are actually not receiving the reimbursements because they are non-compliant.

“I have also received reports that some SUCs have been telling their faculty that CHED is not processing the papers,” De Vera said.

“Some SUC presidents have also raised the issue publicly where upon investigation, their SUCs have not complied with requirements,”  he pointed out.

CHED said schools that have compliance issues until now include:

• Mindanao State University
• Nueva Vizcaya State University
• University of Southern Mindanao
• San Pascual Polytechnic College
• Taguig City University
• Maasin City College
• Makilala Institute of Science and Technology
• Sulu State College
• Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology
• Technological University of the Philippines
• Gov. Alfonso D. Tan College
• San Jose Community College

Also, CHED said over 40 SUCs and LUCS did not receive their reimbursement on tuition and miscellaneous fees for the 2nd semester of academic year 2019-2020 even after the end of the school year in July 2020 due to late submission of documents or noncompliance with billing requirements.

According to CHED, the commission has already paid 112 SUCs and 103 LUCs for the 1st semester Academic Year 2019-2020, and paid 80% (88 SUCs/84 LUCs) of the 215 public higher education institutions for the 2nd semester this year.

“It is unfair to criticize the hardworking men and women of CHED and UniFAST who are doing their best to disburse the money using a skeletal workforce during the pandemic, especially if these claims are being made by SUC/LUC administrators who are remiss in their duty to comply with government rules,” De Vera said. —LBG, GMA News