THE DEPARTMENT of Education is not heading to the dumpster following the recovery of P65 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 dumpster because it is taking an action),” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a Palace press briefing.

Castro welcomed the recovery of the funds from 40 of the 54 private schools that were terminated from the voucher program, after the DepEd in February carried out an investigation regarding ghost beneficiaries.

She believed the issues surrounding the SHS-VP would not be investigated, if the DepEd was still under Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Ito’y nasa pamumuno na po ang DepEd ni Secretary Sonny Angara. Naimbestigahan

pong 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.

The DepEd on Wednesday said around 38 of the 54 schools removed from the SHS-VP have fully refunded the government, while two have made partial payments.

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

The DepEd said it is still determining whether the flagged irregularities amount to fraud.

For the current school year, 12 schools are under review by DepEd. (PNA)