DepEd recovering P100M from alleged irregularities of SHS vouchers
Metro Manila, Philippines - The Department of Education is in the process of recovering around P100 million in funds from the alleged irregularities in the senior high school (SHS) vouchers, Secretary Sonny Angara said.
Angara made this remark in a public dialogue with other Cabinet officials after the president’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Wednesday, July 30.
The irregularities stemmed from the anomalous voucher rollout to so-called “ghost students” – those who are not enrolled but are beneficiaries of the program - a practice that started in previous school years and administration.
“Parang nasa 100 na yata eh. Continuous ang ating investigation diyan at paano palakasin iyong sistema para wala nang makakadaya nito dahil hindi po maganda na itong mga programa na sa ating kabataan ay iyon ay pinaglalaruan lang o hindi siniseryoso ng ibang institusyon,” he said.
[Translation: It seems like it's already around 100 (million pesos). The investigation there is ongoing, and we’re working on strengthening the system so that no one can cheat it anymore, because it's not good that these programs meant for our youth are just being played with or not being taken seriously by some institutions.]
DepEd is looking at recovering the money from 16 schools.
In March, the Department of Education said private schools have returned at least P65 million after the agency flagged the anomalies. It earlier said 38 out of 54 schools have returned funds for school years 2021-2022 and 2022 to 2023.
Angara also said the agency filed civil and criminal charges against those behind the anomalous claims.
“Nag-file na po kami ng kaso hindi lang civil para ma-recover po iyong bayad, pati kriminal para maturuan na rin ng leksiyon na iyong sistema hindi dapat pinaglalaruan,” he said.
[Translation: We have already filed a case, not just a civil one to recover the payments, but also a criminal case to serve as a lesson that the system should not be taken lightly or manipulated.]
