TESDA chief disowns ‘ghost scholars’ anomaly, vows probe

The chief of the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) clarified last Thursday that the anomaly regarding its “ghost scholars,” as uncovered by the Commission on Audit (COA), happened before his term.

In a press conference at the TESDA Women’s Center in Taguig City, TESDA Director-General Guiling Mamondiong said that the recent findings of COA should serve as a warning to all employee of the agency who are involved in illegal transactions.

Mamondiong said this following a 2017 COA report which found that TESDA paid R9.3 million for 310 scholars at AMA Computer College (AMACC) Manila Campus and R1.47 million for 270 scholars in Technivoc Institute Corporation (TIC) without confirmation of actual trainings conducted by the two schools.

The audit report said that out of 310 supposed scholars, COA was only able to contact 115 of them while the rest were not reached through the listed contact information.

AMACC on the other hand, told The Manila Bulletin that it has already returned the total amount of R9,300,000 to TESDA implemented as early as July of 2017.

“Additionally, termination of the individual involved in said activities was imposed in May of 2017 following an internal investigation. While an isolated case, AMA Computer College – Sta. Mesa, Inc., only one of the over 150 schools within the AMA Education System has from then on applied more distinct procedures within its internal processes to ensure stricter audit,” AMA Computer College – Sta. Mesa, Inc. (AMACC Manila) said in a statement.

Mamondiong said that the presence of ghost scholars did not occur during his time in TESDA, but declined from pointing an accusing finger at anyone over the issue.

However, he reiterated that corruption has no place in the agency and that an investigation regarding the recent COA report will be conducted.

Mamondiong said that when he assumed office, he immediately created a Technical Audit Team that visited 4,283 schools nationwide with registered programs under TESDA to inspect if they were operating based on the rules and regulations of the agency.

The TESDA chief added that he instructed Regional and Provincial Directors to submit the list of names of the scholarship beneficiaries in their areas for verification and validation in an effort to eliminate the possibility of “ghost scholars.”