MANILA, Philippines -- Good news for owners and operators of private tertiary schools nationwide but bad news for students and parents.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently gave private educators the go-signal to lift the ceiling on tuition and other school fees earlier imposed by the government, "provided there would be consultations with students, as well as the parents," top officials of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) quoted her as saying.

Arroyo arrived at the decision after a series of meetings with CHED, Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) and the Coordinating Council for Private Educational Institutions (COCOPEA), among other groups.

She "has reaffirmed CHED Memorandum Order No. 13 which covers higher education institutions' guidelines on increasing tuition and other schools fees and with emphasis on the consultation process," CHED officials said.

MO 13 was issued on February 12, 1998 by then CHED chairman Angel Alcala and Commissioners Mona Valisno (now presidential assistant on education), Ester Garcia (now University of the East president and PACU director), Kate Botengan and Roberto Padua.

Arroyo earlier suspended CHED Memorandum Order No. 14, issued in early 2007 by then CHED chairman Carlito Puno, which prohibited private schools from increasing tuition and other fees above the prevailing national inflation rate.

Reports reaching the CHED said less than 10 percent of private tertiary schools increased tuition in 2007 "with tuition hikes mainly applying to freshmen students."

Gonzalo Duque, president of the 160-member PACU, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) "skyrocketing tuition rates are not likely to happen because of the prescribed consultation process between the schools and their students."

Duque commended the President for "upholding the policy on consultations" and "not going beyond what the tuition law requires, as well as not succumbing to political mumbo-jumbos."

Duque, whose family owns the Lyceum Northwestern University in Dagupan City, asserted "the competitiveness of private schools should not be sacrificed."

The former official of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration noted "most, if not all private schools have operational problems. Even the state-run University of the Philippines had to increase its fees to remain competitive."

Fr. Rod Salazar, president of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Institutions (COCOPEA), said "the basic question is not and should not be ‘why lift the tuition fee cap?’ It should rather be ‘why put a tuition cap in the first place?’"

"Putting a tuition cap supposes mistakenly that tuition rates are the same for all schools. School sizes and needs vary across the nation. So, costs vary as well. To put a cap on tuition for the whole country betrays a lack of understanding not just of the economics of education but of education itself," said Salazar.

Garcia said "the tuition fee law is clear on two points: schools decide on the ceiling and there should be consultation for any increase."

" CHED's Memorandum Order no. 13 is consistent with the law," Garcia added.

But the militant League of Filipino Students (LFS) was quick to condemn the Arroyo administration's latest decision.

LFS national chair Vencer Crisostomo said they were "not surprised with the Palace decision, considering the Arroyo administration's record of favoring the interests of its capitalist cronies at the expense of students and parents."

"The so-called consultations in the past have proven to be farcical as CHED's guidelines under revived Memorandum Order 13 are biased for school owners," claimed Crisostomo.

Contrary to CHED claims, "miscellaneous and other school fees are currently not included in the consultation process between the schools and their students," Crisostomo pointed out.

At the same time, the LFS leader warned "more student protests will rock the Arroyo government during the first quarter of 2008 as education costs are expected to soar because of this problematic policy to deregulate tuition."

Earlier, LFS and Anakbayan, another left-leaning youth group, called 2007 the "worst year for Philippine education," citing tuition increases of up to 600 percent and yearly cuts in the budget of state-run universities and colleges.

At the same time, they assailed CHED top officials for ignoring their repeated requests for a dialog regarding their concerns.

"Yearly, we also see a significant increase in students' dropout rates because of government's neglect of student concerns," they said in a statement.

Anakbayan referred to "the 600 percent tuition increase imposed in the Eulogio "Amang" Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST), a state college, which has resulted in a 50 percent drop in enrolment in the current school year."

"From last year's P15 per unit, EARIST currently collects P100 per unit from freshmen students. Laboratory fees also increased from P25 to P500 for both new and returning students," the group said.

They also assailed the 300 percent increase in tuition at the University of the Philippines -- from P300 to P1,000 per unit. This brought the average tuition per semester to P30,000-40,000, just a few pesos less than tuition at Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle Universitites.

They added that Polytechnic University of the Philippines was poised to implement a 525-percent tuition increase, or an increase from P12.50 to P75 per unit.

Earlier, the LFS, referring to CHED Chairman Romulo Neri’s belief in feng shui, asked him to channel his office's "positive energies" into a speedy review of the tuition policy.

Militant students asked Neri to "stop wasting his time looking for structural alignments and a better view [at the CHED office in Pasig City]."

"Instead, he should start looking into questions on the CHED's tuition increase policy because luck is running out for the students and parents who cannot afford the ridiculously high cost of tertiary education," said Crisostomo.

Crisostomo was reacting to an Inquirer report that Neri transferred to another room at the CHED headquarters upon the advice of a Chinese feng shui expert.

"Unless [Neri] acts on this matter quickly and reasonably, there will be no reason to expect peace and quiet as students are already gearing up for mass protests," warned the LFS.

According to Crisostomo, Neri "will be needing more than feng shui to address that."