SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian lauded the increase of Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) beneficiaries from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households, with more than 159,000 new students from these families now receiving financial assistance for education-related expenses.

Based on an analysis by the senator’s office of data from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), only 21% of TES beneficiaries for school year 2022-2023 came from low-income households, including 4Ps and Listahanan.

The Listahanan is an information management system that identifies the country’s poor and their locations.

Seventy-nine percent of TES beneficiaries in the same school year were from areas without state and local universities and colleges.

When TES started in 2018, 71% of beneficiaries were from low-income households.

Gatchalian flagged the decrease in TES beneficiaries from poor households during last year’s budget deliberations, noting that this trend is inconsistent with the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act’s intention to prioritize the poorest students.

To reverse this trend, Gatchalian introduced a special provision in the CHED’s 2024 budget, mandating UniFAST to prioritize students under Listahan 2.0 and those from low-income households when selecting TES beneficiaries.

The special provision directed TES grants totaling PHP 3.1 billion towards college students from the poorest households.

Data from CHED and UniFAST now shows that 159,832 new grantees come from 4Ps households. The share of beneficiaries from 4Ps households increased by 27% in SY 2023-2024, compared to less than 1% in SY 2022-2023. For SY 2023-2024, the combined number of TES beneficiaries from 4Ps and Listahanan reached 210,202.

“Nais nating siguruhin na mapupunta sa mga pinakamahirap nating constituents ang subsidiya at sila muna ang mabibigyan ng prayoridad. This is an intervention that we brought to life during last year’s budget deliberation. I thank the Commission and also the UniFAST board for responding to our request,” Gatchalian said.

CHED Chairperson Prospero De Vera III confirmed that the UniFAST board changed its policy on selecting TES beneficiaries due to Congress’ intervention.