MANILA – The Department of Education said it has terminated the participation of 55 schools in its senior high school voucher program amid allegations of "ghost students."

DepEd Government Assistance and Subsidies Service Project Manager III Atty. Tara Rama made the revelation during a briefing of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture on Thursday.

Rama was asked by Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel on the exact figure of alleged "ghost students" under the voucher program.

"For that specific talaga na number hindi ko po mabibigay specific because there are four categories nung sinasabi nating ghost students. And at the same time, though we had already a number of schools that were terminated, we started terminating February of 2023, yung mga schools na yun, iba't-iba po yung kanilang mga finding," Rama said.

"Sari't-sari po yung amount na yun and yung number of students. Siguro we can provide you with the number. But currently yun po and at the same time peron po kaming ongoing na investigation," she added.

Rama said the schools were terminated due to various reasons, not just students who have no class records or class attendance, but also "unqualified" voucher recipients.

"We started terminating po, we had 22 schools. For school year 2021-2022 that's 22. In February 2023, we terminated another 32 schools for school year 2022-2023. Yan po yung parang sakop ng findings natin. And then for 2023-2024, we already have one [school] terminated. And then under investigation po yung another 12," she revealed. 

Rama said they are looking into filing criminal cases against erring schools.

She said alleged "ghost students" may fall into four categories: significant number of absent students during monitoring, beneficiaries billed under a specific school or campus but attended another school or campus; students listed as enrolled but have not attended classes since the start of the semester; and students billed multiple times in the same schools or different participating schools.

When asked by Manuel about the total amount of vouchers not released to schools, Rama could also not give an exact figure on what she called "questionable claims."

"When the private schools submit their billing statements, before natin babayaran idadaan po natin sa learner's information system. Pag yung billing statements hindi tumugma sa learner’s information system natin, hindi po natin dinisburse yung pera. Hinold po natin yung payment na yun," Rama said. 

"For school year 2023 to 2024, around P200 million po yung hindi natin rinelease because may discrepancy. So we cannot say altogether na ghost students po yun. Kasi it might be na pumasok sila sa private school on the first few months and then afterwards umalis po sila, bumalik sa public school kasi nagkaproblema… We cannot say for sure na ito po ay ghost students lahat," she explained. 

Rama said participating schools usually have about 100 to 1,000 beneficiaries each.

The voucher is worth P14,000 to P22,500 depending on the location of the student.

During the same hearing, a group raised concerns over the screening of beneficiaries for the voucher program.

Irene Rocha of the PTA-United Advocates PH shared a story of a friend who supposedly benefits from the program despite being well-off.

"Mayaman siya. May kakayanan siya eh… Siya pa ang naggrant ng ganitong voucher. Kasi sa school niya, paunahan, first 100. Pag ka nagapply ka sa voucher na yun makukuha nila. So nakakuha siya," Rocha said. 

"Yung iba na walang kakayahan kawawa naman sila. Kasi very limited lang pala yung voucher program nila. Parang merong numbers lang per school nailalaan yung voucher na yun… Sino ba makikinabang? Dapat categorized," she added.

Rocha said proposed the use of student numbers in monitoring the student beneficiaries.

"Sana po sa part ng program, i-screen po sana. Kasi alam naman ng private schools kung sino may kakayahan. Siguro sa ganitong program, hindi ganun kahigpit. Walang standard, naaabuso. Inaabuse nila yung ganitong program kasi nakikinabang sila," she said. 

"Bawat student may student number. Para po maiwasan yung ghost, pwede naman malook into it ng DepEd kung yung bata nasa ganung school sila. Ma-ttrack po ng DepEd through the student numbers kung nasaang school siya," Rocha suggested. 

Another parent said there are students from remote islands or the mountains who are not beneficiaries of the voucher program.

House panel chairperson Rep. Roman Romulo said there are policy gaps that need to be reviewed and addressed by the DepEd.

"Unang-una yung pag-authorize na mag-operate ng isang school. Nasabi naman nila talagang sa umpisa may permit to operate lang. Ang sinasabi natin, bigyan ng permit to operate pero wala naman monitoring after that. Magkakaproblema tayo sa quality of the school. And secondly, kung may problema na dun, dun nga pwede magkakaroon na mga nakakalusot o hindi na comply," he said.

"Pangalawa, hindi lang naman dun sa ano sa pag-accredit ng schools pero sa mismo ang voucher system program nila. Hindi ba dapat ang chinicheck nila, masigurado nila na yung beneficiaries noon ay talaga yung karapat dapat," the lawmaker added.

Romulo acknowledged the benefits of the voucher program, but reiterated the need for better implementation.

"Kailangan natin talaga ng tulong ng private schools pero kung kukukuha na tayo ng tulong ng private schools, siguraduhin natin na yung natutulungan, yung talagang kailangan tulungan una. Pangalawa, ang nahahatid natin, quality education," he said.

He also flagged how some schools require "top-up" fees aside from the tuition, which result in students going back to public schools.

"Pag nagtotop-up tayo, hindi ba dapat siguraduhin ng DepEd dun sa participating private school na huwag na mag-add ng iba pang fees. Kailangan ito na maliwanag tayo para ma-end naman niya, mapapatulong yung pag-aaral niya yung learner na lumipat ng private school," Romulo said.

For its part, the DepEd said it is working on improving its implementation of the voucher program and studying its previous Department Orders.

"We do recognize that this is also because there's no sufficient monitoring because there's also a gap in the guidelines. There's a policy gap also in DepEd and so we will be amending, we are already in the process of amending DepEd order 88 series of 2010," DepEd Private Education Office Director III Vernice Quintana said. 

"Included in that is recognition the recognition process po for senior high schools which will be followed by certification process po with the Private Education Assistance Committee so that it will be patterned po same na po with the ESC and hopefully that will significantly help in us avoiding cases such as this," she added.

Romulo likewise questioned the Private Education Assistance Committee (PAEC) for only being able to monitor and check 10% of all private schools.

"Ang point natin, pero based na statements nila, hindi naman pala na ma-monitor lahat ng paraalan na nag-rereceive. Ang sinasabi natin dapat ma-increase yung monitoring para may kumpiyansa yung taong bayan na gagamit sa tama, at tama yung beneficiaries," he said.
PEAC said they are working on raising its monitoring to 100% to give better data on the voucher program implementation.

The lawmaker also flagged Coordinating Council of Private Educational Association (COCOPEA) members being part of the PAEC, who is also in charge of monitoring.

DepEd said they thoroughly check the billing statements of the schools, regardless if they are a COCOPEA or PAEC member.

Romulo said P40 billion was earmarked for the voucher program, about P27 billion was for the senior high school initiative in the 2024 national budget.

The House panel chair said they plan to hold another briefing on the issue within this month.