DepEd sees recovery of up to P100M in voucher program
The Department of Education (DepEd) may recover around P100 million of the funds fraudulently claimed by some schools under its Senior High School (SHS) voucher program, Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said on Wednesday.
During a post-State of the Nation Address discussion attended by Angara, Palace press officer Claire Castro praised the DepEd for recovering P65 million of the program’s funds.
“It’s not just P65 million, I think it’s higher. I think it’s around P100 million already,” Angara said. In March, he announced that 38 out of 54 private schools that were removed from the program over anomalous claims have “fully refunded the government” after the DepEd sent them demand letters. The voucher claims were for school years (SY) 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
Cases have also been filed against those involved, including one school “within the vicinity of Metro Manila.”
Continuing probe
“We will continue our investigation as well as the strengthening of the program to prevent anomalies because it is not right for anyone to take advantage of or to not take seriously this program for our youth,” Angara said.
Asked what the DepEd will do with the funds once these are recovered, he said, “The money will still be used for the voucher program because it was allocated under this budget item. It will benefit other students in different schools.”
The SHS voucher program is a government subsidy program for qualified senior high school students in Grades 11 and 12. The vouchers, ranging from P8,750 to P22,500 per year, are paid directly to the student’s preferred private school.
Angara disclosed in February that 12 private schools participating in the program made “questionable claims,” prompting the DepEd to stop the payments to pave the way for an investigation.
The vouchers being requested by the 12 schools totaled over P52 million.
There were no refunds for SY 2023-2024 since no payments have been released to private schools “with questionable claims due to a stricter validation process,” Angara said.
According to him, some of the schools they filed charges against used “ghost students” to support their claims.
