DepEd recovers P65M from voucher program irregularities

The Department of Education (DepEd) will not be heading “to the dumpster” following the recovery of PHP65 million from private schools flagged for irregularities in the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS-VP) for school years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, Malacañang said on Friday.

“With this result, we can now say that DepEd will not be put to dumpster. Hindi po mapupunta sa basurahan ngayon ang [DepEd] dahil may ginagawa (DepEd will not head to the dumpster because it is taking action),” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a Palace press briefing.

Castro welcomed the return of funds from 40 of the 54 private schools removed from the voucher program after DepEd launched an investigation in February into ghost beneficiaries.

She emphasized that such an investigation might not have taken place had DepEd remained under former Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Ito’y nasa pamumuno na po ang DepEd ni Secretary Sonny Angara. Na-imbestigahan po ng mabuti ‘yung ghost students, ‘yung voucher program anomalies at ito po ay magreresulta ng PHP65 million na mare-recover po natin (This is the DepEd under the leadership of Secretary Sonny Angara. The ghost students, the voucher program anomalies have been thoroughly investigated, and this will result in PHP65 million that we will recover),” Castro said.

“Tandaan po natin, itong mga ghost students na ito ay nagsimula noong 2021 to 2022 [at] 2022 to 2023. Ito po ay panahon ni dating Pangulong Duterte, at panahon noong naging DepEd secretary si VP Sara (Let’s remember, these ghost students started in 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023. This was the time of former President Duterte, and the time when VP Sara was DepEd secretary),” she added.

DepEd reported last week that 38 of the 54 schools removed from the SHS-VP have fully refunded the government, while two have made partial payments.

Meanwhile, 14 schools have yet to return the disbursed funds, prompting the issuance of final demand letters.

DepEd is still assessing whether the flagged irregularities constitute fraud. For the current school year, 12 schools remain under review.