Rowegie Abanto

Article (news)

deped

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17688939816581768893979420.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>The Department of Education headquarters in Pasig City. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</div>MANILA — Senate Finance Committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday criticized the Department of Education (DepEd) for allegedly being slow in the creation of guidelines for the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP).SHS VP is a financial assistance program where subsidies are given to qualified learners in the form of vouchers.During Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Gatchalian pointed out that they have been discussing the issue since 2024 when he was still chairman of the Committee on Basic Education. It seemed to him that the department is not serious in addressing the problem.“Director Tara, Ilang beses ka nang pumunta dito, ilang beses ka ring nangangako. Wala namang nangyayari sa mga sinasabi mo, to be honest about it,” Gatchalian told DepEd Director III for Finance Tara Rama.“Ang pangako mo sa amin maglalabas kayo ng bagong guidelines. Fastforward 2026 wala pang guidelines. So nagbobolahan lang tayo dito. Sasabihin mo reforms, ganito ganyan pero wala namang nangyayari eh. So nagsisinungaling ka lang eh. Itong problema natin matagal na ito,” he said.According to Rama, it is “very hard” to issue guidelines, but Gatchalian said they have been given two years to come up with this.“We’re on the final stage,” Rama said. “Even without the guidelines, Sir, we’ve already presented to you the five layers of validation.”Some of the layers are validation of learners prior to billing creation, and post-audit monitoring by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC).DepEd also said the guidelines will be out by January 30.<div> </div><div>VOUCHER PROGRAM PROBLEMS </div>Rama said they have terminated 55 participating schools in the SHS VP since February 2023, with more than P79 million out of P264 million refunded.Reasons for the termination are having no record of the student’s class participation, enrollment, and attendance, having unqualified beneficiaries, students attending a different grade level, and students not meeting the 30-day attendance requirement.DepEd filed criminal cases against three schools in 2025 — two from Caloocan City and one from Taguig.Cases include estafa through falsification of commercial documents, violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, and consummated and attempted estafa through falsification of commercial documents. The cases involve an aggregate amount of more than P37.5 million.DepEd found out that in one particular school, a consultant was behind the irregularity.“Almost all their students are not enrolled in their school,” Rama said. “Nakita po natin almost 99, 98 to 99% po ay wala po sa kanila. Nung tinignan po namin ito, nakita po natin na may isang person na nagpe-perpetuate nito. Not the school owner but parang consultant po siya.”“When we delved in further, investigated further, nalaman din namin na meron pa siyang ibang schools din na quote unquote parang mina-manage. So we also checked, counter checked the billings of that, and nakita din po namin na karamihan din po ng mga build learners nila ay wala din po doon sa school na ito.”Committee on Basic Education chair Sen. Bam Aquino asked if this could be considered a syndicate. “Dahil may multiple schools siya sindikato ito in short?” Aquino asked.Rama replied: “Yeah, parang medyo marami na rin po siyang mga schools na involved.”The consultant has already been charged in court, along with a DepEd employee who was not named.“Dahil walang quality assurance, kahit sinong Poncio Pilato magtatayo ng school, kukuha ng estudyante, ibi-bill kayo tapos babayad naman kayo pikit mata,” Gatchalian told DepEd. He cited data gathered by his office that showed that 67% of recipients of the SHS VP from school year 2024 to 2025 were non-poor, and that there was a P12 billion leakage from the same period.“I call this leakage because the design of the program is flawed. Dapat tinutulungan muna natin yung mahirap na estudyante na nagsisiksikan sila sa mga eskwelahan sa urban centers,” Gatchalian said.Rama said DepEd has taken steps to validate instead of just issuing payments. She also mentioned that the program is not limited to poor students.“Priority lang po natin yung mga underprivileged po. We did not say na only poor will be able to join in the program. In fact po sa aming discussion also sa House of Representatives, where they also want to expand the bill, we mentioned there na it can be poor to middle income,” she explained. Sen. Raffy Tulfo and the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) noted that the voucher program can help decongest public schools.  Aquino meanwhile pushed for heavier penalties against those who abuse the program.“Puwede tayong maglagay ng iba pang penalty kasi iyong kinakaso niyo, syndicated estafa. In fact, baka nga falsification of commercial documents lang. But maybe in this bill, we can include the penalties for those who will do fraudulent behavior,” Aquino said. “Kasi pag ninanakaw natin pera na dapat napupunta sa mga kabataan, parang ibang level po iyon ng kasamaan,” he said.

Senate Finance Committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian criticized the Department of Education (DepEd) for allegedly being slow in the creation of guidelines for the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP).

Senate Finance Committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian criticized the Department of Education (DepEd) for allegedly being slow in the creation of guidelines for the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP).

'Nagsisinungaling ka': Senator grills DepEd exec over alleged delay in senior high voucher program guidelines

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'Nagsisinungaling ka': Senator grills DepEd exec over alleged delay in senior high voucher program guidelines

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published January 20, 2026 03:36 PM PHT

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DepEd

Department of Education

Senior High School

Voucher Program

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