EDUCATION Secretary Sonny Angara yesterday warned that schools found to have anomalous disbursements in thec will face sanctions, including the filing of cases.
Angara issued the warning in a chance interview with reporters at the Barihan Elementary School in Malolos City, Bulacan where the DepEd’s Brigada Eskwela 2025 was launched.
“The schools will be charged for misuse of the funds under the SHS-VP. They will be charged, and if the school refuses to pay, cases will be filed and include even school officials,” Angara said.
The DepEd Central Office initiated an investigation in February on the alleged “ghost” senior high school students under the SHS-VP program.
In a Senate hearing last year, the Commission on Audit (COA) said “ghost” students refer to those who were named twice or more in billing statements made by private schools.
Angara sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the alleged disbursements to “ghost” students for the possible filing of criminal charges.
In March, he said the DepEd recovered P65 million from erring private schools even as an investigation on the alleged irregularities in the program continues.
Angara said the department has demanded refunds from 54 private schools flagged for irregularities in the SHS-VP claims for school years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
He said then that of the 54 schools terminated from the SHS-VP, 38 have fully refunded the DepEd, while two have made partial refunds.
To prevent a recurrence of such irregularities, Angara said the department, in coordination with the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC), has implemented measures to enhance oversight and accountability starting with the school year 2024-2025.
Among these measures are cross-referencing and verification of information and the conduct of a 100 percent system audit, as well as random field visits to participating private schools.
The SHS-VP and Educational Service Con-tracting (ESC) Programs are the two major assistance and subsidy programs of the DepEd for public school students who want to transfer to private schools due to overcrowding in the former.
