Senator Bam Aquino on Tuesday warned that he will push for stricter penalties on individuals and schools that misuse government funds under the private school voucher program.
Aquino’s call followed revelations from a Private Education Assistance Committee official during a Committee on Basic Education hearing that some private schools with provisional permits are using “ghost” students to gain from the Senior High School voucher program.
To address the issue, Aquino said the committee report should recommend stiffer sanctions to prevent misuse of funds intended for students’ education.
“We can include additional penalties because what we are prosecuting is syndicated estafa. In fact, it might only be the falsification of commercial documents,” he said.
“When we steal money that is meant for children, it’s a whole different level of evil… we can recommend in our committee report, in our version, a separate penalty for those who are defrauding the government and using this voucher system,” Aquino added.
The senator expressed hope that fellow lawmakers would back the proposal to make potential abusers reconsider exploiting the voucher system.
“Anyone who attempts to do something evil using this system and DepEd funds will think twice because a separate penalty will be included. We will raise that penalty,” he said.
