Libreng kolehiyo, naipatutupad nang maayos—CHED

Sa gitna ng mga kontrobersiyal na pahayag laban sa free higher education law, binigyang-diin kahapon ni Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III na ipinatutupad na ang Republic Act 10931.

Inilabas ni De Vera ang pahayag bilang tugon sa naglabasang balita na pinuna ni Albay Rep. Joey Salceda ang “‘stupid’ implementation of free college education law,” kabilang ang mabagal na reimbursement sa mga unibersidad at kolehiyo.

Nilinaw din ni De Vera, na siya ring pinuno ng Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) implementation, na ang “CHED-UniFAST data shows that 62 SUCs and CHED-recognized Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) have completed billing amounting to P3,227,556,829.30 as of October 2018.”

Naibalik na rin umano ng CHEDUniFAST ang pondo sa AY 2017-2018, sa ilalim ng P8B Free Tuition 2017 program.

“Our track record speaks for itself,” ani De Vera. “There is no reason why we cannot do the same for this year.”

Dagdag pa ni De Vera, bagamat suportado niya ang posisyon ni Salceda na dapat ay nasa pamamahala na ng GAA ng mga SUC-LUCS, ipinaliwanag niya na “this is difficult to do under the proposed 2019 National Expenditure Program (NEP) because of existing fiscal and accounting requirements such as the proposed Cash Based Budgeting system.”

Ipinunto rin ni De Vera na ang “student loan programs have been problematic in the Philippines”.

Kung sa pagpapatakbo ng Return Service System, nilinaw ni De Vera na “no fees were collected from students for Return Service, so there are no reimbursements to be made.”