Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros has vowed to pinpoint culpability in the alleged Irregularities in the government’s UniFAST program as implemented by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
UniFAST stands for Unified Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act, or UniFAST, also known as Republic Act No. 10687 which was signed into law on October 15 last year.
UniFAST was meant to reconcile, improve, strengthen, expand, and put under one body all government-funded modalities of Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAPs) for tertiary education— and special purpose education assistance —in both public and private institutions. These modalities include scholarships, grants-in-aid, student loans and other specialized forms of StuFAPs formulated by the UniFAST board.
“CHED remains accountable for the whole process. As long as the students have not received what is due to them, CHED cannot say they have done their job. I look forward to the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on this where we will hold those responsible to full account,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
According to Hontiveros, it was clear that the CHED-UniFAST issue is far from resolved, contrary to CHED claim that the COA report on the mess has been addressed.
“To claim so totally dismisses and gaslights the students who have been following up for years to receive what is due to them, as they now struggle to re-enroll in school.
“May mga scholar na ga-graduate na pero ni isang sentimo ay walang natatanggap hanggang ngayon. The fact remains that CHED-UniFAST released billions of pesos entrusted to them, unmonitored, without checking or seeing the process through. Hindi pwedeng maghugas ng kamay ang CHED-UniFAST at ibaling sa mga paaralan ang sisi,” the senator narrated.
In 4 days, my office has received more than 300 complaints via email from both students and institutions. CHED need only look at its comments section to see the gravity of the complaints,” Hontiveros disclosed.
“I am glad that my SR (Senate Resolution) No. 128 has been referred to the Blue Ribbon Committee because we need to hear how and why for over four years they allowed their agency to proceed in this manner, so that we can come up with constructive solutions moving forward,” she added.
“Hindi ito pwedeng balewalain lang dahil maraming estudyanteng indigent ang nahihirapan dahil dito. These are undeniably serious, even unjust delays,” Hontiveros stressed.
She also said some scholars even shared that they cannot even apply for or avail of other scholarships because they are listed as UniFAST scholars even if CHED has not sent them any updates since signing the contract. These UniFAST lapses, ironically, are literally standing in the way of students’ right to education.