Militant group slams Ched for ‘compulsively lying’ on tuition hikes

MANILA, Philippines – A militant youth group on Tuesday blasted the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) for “compulsively lying” about the impending tuition hikes for the school year 2015-2016.

In a statement, Anakbayan Vice Chairperson Vencer Crisostomo described Ched as lawyering for “capitalist-educators.”

“Instead of stopping tuition hikes, they resort to lies, doublespeak and cover-ups to defend capitalist-educators. They attack students groups protesting tuition hikes,” Crisostomo said.

Anakbayan issued the statement after the tertiary education body refuted data released by the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP) saying that almost 400 higher education institutions will raise their tuition and other fees next academic year.

“In academic year 2014-2015, CHED approved the tuition increase by 287 private higher education institutions (HEIs) from 345 that initially filed applications at its regional offices. In AY 2013-2014, CHED approved 354 private HEIs from 451 that initially applied. The approved numbers represent roughly 20% of the 1,683 total number of private HEIs nationwide,” Ched said in a statement released on Monday.

The commission assured the public that only “transparent, reasonable and affordable” tuition hikes would be implemented.

Meanwhile, Crisostomo also questioned Ched for not publishing the profits gained by private schools, alleging that the schools are bribing the commission to allow them to implement tuition hikes.

“CHED should divulge how much the schools are earning. The profits of three big schools in 2013 and 2014 already reach more than P10 billion. We wonder how much of this these lying CHED officials got as bribes,” he said.

The militant group said that it would stage a nationwide walkout on Feb. 27 to protest impending tuition fee increases.

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