Olongapo college clarifies P19 million overpayment after COA flags fees

OLONGAPO CITY — Gordon College on Sunday clarified that an alleged P19 million overpayment under the Free Higher Education (FHE) program was due to a misclassification of fees, not misuse of funds.

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The college said that the issue stemmed from including Audio-Visual Room (AVR) fees under laboratory fees in its Tuition and Other School Fees (TOSF).

 “The matter is the subject of Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) No. CHED-CO-2025-003, covering FHE reimbursements for Academic Years 2019–2020 to 2023–2024,” the statement said.

Gordon College added that it formally responded to the Commission on Audit (COA) in May 2025, in coordination with the UniFAST Secretariat, clarifying that the AVR fees were initially classified as laboratory fees “with good intentions and full transparency.”

Upon learning that laboratory fees are now strictly limited to courses using specialized equipment, the college said it reclassified the fees.

The institution stated that all FHE funds are carefully allocated, audited by CHED, UniFAST, and COA, and used transparently for operations and development.

Gordon College said that it is fully cooperating with government agencies and urged the public to await official findings.

The COA report noted that lapses in FHE implementation led to overpayments totaling P295.8 million to three local universities and colleges, including Gordon College, due to ineligible and excessive fees that were not flagged because of deficient control mechanisms./coa