SENATOR Risa Hontiveros urged the Commission on Higher Education to look into reports that “ghosts” haunt the implementation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act or Republic Act 10931.

“Almost 400 students have sent complaints to my office that they have not received their education subsidy. Kasama dito, may mga reklamo na may mga ‘ghost scholars’ na nakakatanggap ng tuition reimbursement ng mga estudyante na naka-graduate na. So kung hindi ang mga bata, sino ang totoong nagka-cash in? Seryosong alegasyon ito na kailangang imbestigahan ng CHED,” Hontiveros said.

She questioned CHED on its defective Memorandum of Agreement between UniFAST, CHED, and the Development Bank of the Philippines that led to P1 billion in parked funds since 2019 and prevented the implementation of the program.

“Alam ninyo naman na may problema sa MOA pero bakit hindi ninyo ibinalik agad sa National Treasury ang P1 billion na nakalaan para dito? Hindi barya-barya ang pinag-uusapan dito. Naibalik niyo na ba ang naka-park na P1 billion na ito sa National Treasury? Ano namang nangyari sa interest earnings nito? Mayroon pa bang ibang mga nakapark na pondo para sa libreng edukasyon na naka-tengga lang?” she asked CHED.

“Up to 3 years ang backlog ng CHED sa pag-release ng pera sa mga estudyante. Nasaan ang pondo?” she added.

The senator also brought up screenshots emailed to her office of the official UniFAST NCR and Region 10 Facebook pages whose admin urged students to post #IStandWithCHEDUniFast after the senator called for an investigation of the agency’s P7 billion questionable releases.

“Sa mga e-mail na natanggap ko, huwag na daw na ipaalam ang identity nila. Ramdam ko na takot sila na malaman na nagrereklamo sila kasi baka lalo silang mawalan ng scholarship,” Hontiveros added.

“At mukhang sa official social media pages pa, na-gaslight pa sila na kung maimbestigahan ang mga anomalyang ito, matitigil ang libreng pag-aaral nila. Gusto nating imbestigahan ito para maayos ang mga problemang nakakaapekto sa maraming estudyante, hindi itigil yung programa. There is a real climate of fear among students, and we at the Senate should find out who is instigating it,” she stressed.