Deserving studes get break after CHEd signs rules

CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHEd) has finally signed the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law that gives priority to poor but deserving college students for scholarships and faster financial assistance.

CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan approved the IRR of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act (UniFast) as head of the seven-member UniFast board on Friday.

“The IRR signing ushers in the full implementation of the UniFast law, and with it reforms that would make the delivery and implementation of student financial assistance in the tertiary level more effective, efficient and politically neutral,” Licuanan said in a statement.

The law, signed in October 2015 by then President Benigno S. Aquino III, aims to speed up the distribution of government scholarships and other student financial assistance by targeting qualified beneficiaries and following a unified system for selection and retention.

The signing of the IRR also allows the commission to put into operation a technical secretariat to assist the seven-member governing board. This administrative office will be attached to the CHEd and headed by an executive director, Licuanan said.

The seven-member board includes the heads of the following government agencies: Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, National Youth Commission, and National Economic and Development Authority.

In its declaration of policy, the IRR states that Filipinos are allowed full access to quality education through adequate funding and the implementation of a mechanism to boost enrollment in tertiary education, particularly among poor but “academically proficient and highly motivated students.”

CHEd Deputy Executive Director Napoleon Imperial, UniFast secretariat head, said UniFast was effectively the country’s first national instrument for human capital development, ensuring the creation of high and middle-level manpower needed by industries and public services.

The signatories to the IRR were the former heads of the seven government agencies involved in the implementation of the UniFast law—Mario Montejo and Irene Isaac as cochairs; Rosalinda Baldoz, Br. Armin Luistro, Earl Saavedra and Emmanuel Esguerra as board members.