In rebuttal to Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Prospero “Popoy” de Vera III’s previous claim, Northern Samar 1st District Representative and Senior Deputy Minority Leader Paul Daza revealed before the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education that the disputed P10-billion Higher Education Development Fund has been used before for scholarships of tertiary students.

P2 billion or more than half of the HEDF in 2016, Rep. Daza pointed out, “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.”

“By the time Chairman de Vera took over in 2019,” the lawmaker lamented, the share for student assistance “has dwindled down to P170 million,” or 18.7% of the HEDF.

Proving his point further, “I looked into the law that established travel tax,” Rep. Daza shared, and affirmed his statement that The Tourism Act of 2019’s (Republic Act No. 9593) revenue mandate did not exclusively cater to only students under tourism-related courses, but prioritize them—meaning the rest of the funds can also be allocated to the scholarships of other students.

The House committee was continuing its deliberation on House Resolution No. 767, which Rep. Daza authored, that seeks to improve access to tertiary education while reducing dropout rates among the poor Filipino students.

Rep. Daza made the suggestion to tap more funding sources for scholarships after finding reports that enrollment in private and public schools took a significant dip and ‘millions’ of students were unable to continue their studies.

“Pag ang puso po natin andyan, talagang gusto po natin tulungan yung mga mahihirap, pwedeng gamitin ng CHED yung 10 billion today without having to wait for the next GAA (General Appropriations Act) budget deliberation,” said Rep. Daza.

(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.)

“Nandyan po yung listahan sa inyo: 1 million students. Gamitin po ninyo yan.”

(The list is with you: 1 million students. please, put it to use.)

Photo: Paul Daza FB