Daza debunks CHEd claim: HEDF scholarships have historical precedent

MANILA, Philippines — There is a precedent to the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF) being used for college students’ scholarships, contrary to claims by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza claimed.

In a statement on Monday, Daza said that the P10 billion HEDF was already used for scholarships in the past, despite CHEd Chairperson Prospero de Vera III saying that he does not know where the idea of the HEDF as a scholarship fund came from.

According to the lawmaker, around P2 billion of the HEDF in 2016 was used for student support.

“P2 billion or more than half of the HEDF in 2016 […] was used for student-related support (or the) provision of assistance, incentives, scholarships, and grants through Student Financial Assistance Programs,” Daza said.

“Meaning there’s already precedent for HEDF to be utilized by CHEd for poor students, needy students,” he claimed.

During the House committee hearing on higher and technical education, Daza was referring to his previous claim last March 20 that the P10 billion fund should have helped many tertiary students.

“The earmarked funds are what we call an off-budget, by law — travel tax, PRC [Professional Regulation Commission], and PCSO [Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office] shares go to that fund. That’s supposed to be for higher education. If CHEd did its job and engaged DSWD — and if they continued the 2012 grant-in-aid [scholarship] which was incorporated in the law, they could have helped a few hundred thousand students a year,” Daza said in the hearing.

READ: P10 billion of CHEd scholarship fund used for other purposes – solon

In response, de Vera said there are no irregularities regarding the P10 billion HEDF meant to strengthen higher education provision, adding that it was not a scholarship fund.

“The Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF) was put in the CHEd Charter (RA 7722) to fund projects to ‘strengthen higher education’. It is not a scholarship fund. I do not know where the idea of a P10B scholarship fund came from,” de Vera said in a statement issued last March 22.

“CHED has been giving grants to HEIs (higher educational institutions) over the past four (4) administrations and the current CHED Chairperson and Commissioners have continued this policy. What is new under the current CHEd leadership is a stronger focus on tourism,” he noted.

But Daza said that the provision of student assistance had decreased to just P170 million, or less than a fourth of the HEDF — contrary to 2016 when the P2 billion was half of the entire HEDF.

“By the time Chairman de Vera took over in 2019, the share for student assistance has [dwindled] to P170 million or 18.7% of the HEDF,” Daza claimed.

“Pag ang puso po natin andyan, talagang gusto po natin tulungan yung mga mahihirap, pwedeng gamitin ng CHEd yung 10 billion today without having to wait for the next GAA (General Appropriations Act) budget deliberation. Nandyan po yung listahan sa inyo: 1 million students. Gamitin po ninyo yan,” he added.

(If our hearts are in it, if we really want to help the poor, CHEd can use the P10 billion funds today without waiting for the next GAA budget deliberations.  The list is with you. You have one million students. please, put it to use.)

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