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February 27, 2025 | 2:24pm
Students line up to enter Araullo High School in Manila on Jan. 15, 2024.
The STAR / Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — A House leader is calling for a parallel legislative probe into the Department of Education’s (DepEd) undocumented beneficiaries under its senior high school voucher program.
House Assistant Majority Leader Jil Bongalon (Ako Bicol Party-list) said on Thursday, February 27, that he will coordinate with the chairpersons of the House basic education and good government committees for a joint motu proprio inquiry into alleged subsidy claims of “ghost students.”
DepEd launched its investigation last week, starting with 12 private schools across nine regions suspected of falsifying student beneficiaries to claim senior high school voucher subsidies.
RELATED: Explainer: The 'ghost students' in DepEd's voucher program
“Kailangan nating silipin kung nasaan ang butas at sino ang dapat managot (We need to examine where the loopholes are and who should be held accountable),” Bongalon said, stressing it has been a perennial problem since the program’s implementation in 2016.
At a press conference on Thursday, he said millions of pesos from the voucher program that went to non-existent enrollees could have instead funded students’ other needs, including health assistance.
In 2018, a performance audit revealed that schools refunded P10.4 million after billing the same student recipients twice. This followed an earlier Commission on Audit report that flagged 115 “ghost students” in the 2016-2017 school year.
What remains unclear is whether these irregularities were accidental or deliberate — one of the key questions DepEd aims to answer in its investigation.
Bongalon said that “swift congressional action” is needed to “preserve the program’s credibility.”
“Hindi lang pera ng bayan ang nawawala, pati tiwala ng mga tao sa ating sistema ng edukasyon ay nasisira,” Bongalon said.
(Funds are not the only thing the nation is losing, but also the people’s trust in the education system is destroyed.)
The senior high school voucher program aims to provide financial assistance to eligible students enrolling in private or non-DepEd schools. Another key objective is to ease overcrowding in public schools.
Student recipients under the voucher program receive financial aid ranging from P8,750 to P22,500, depending on certain qualifications and the region they are based from.
RELATED: DepEd's SHS vouchers fall short of decongesting public schools, helping poor learners
For Bongalon, a congressional probe is essential to establish legislative measures to prevent further misallocating financial aid meant for students.
He said DepEd employees and officials must also be investigated, as they may have overlooked or even colluded in the inclusion of non-existent beneficiaries — not just school administrators.
“Mas mabuti kung may masusing imbestigasyon mula sa lehislatura para malaman natin ang lahat ng anggulo, pati na rin ang role ng mga opisyal na dapat sana’y nagbabantay sa programang ito,” Bongalon said.
(It would be better to have a thorough legislative investigation to examine all angles, including the role of officials who were supposed to oversee this program.)
Bongalon also stressed that while the SHS voucher program is beneficial, some private schools may exploit weaknesses in monitoring guidelines as they are only subjected to unannounced inspections.
“Ang SHS voucher program ay magandang programa, pero kung madaraya ito, nasasayang ang budget,” he said.
(The SHS voucher program is a good initiative, but if it is exploited, the budget goes to waste.)
The House recently approved a bill to extend the voucher program to elementary students, with the measure now awaiting Senate deliberation.
