Commission on Higher Education (CHED) denounced malicious allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds allotted for the living allowances and other grants under government scholarship program.
“It has been my personal commitment to stamp out corruption in CHED since day one, despite the odds. We have implemented the Program with the highest level of ethical stewardship. Every peso is accounted for,” Chairperson Patricia Licuanan said.
Cunanan said only 4,096 faculty scholars under the local scholarships are experiencing delays in the release of living allowances, clarifying earlier reports that 9,500 scholars have been affected.
As of Jan. 11, the Commission has fully released allowances for 2,051 scholars who have submitted complete documentary requirements, an ongoing effort since November 2017 following the resumption of the processing of allowances after the COA Notices of Suspension were issued.
The Commission has also approved the partial release of living allowances for 1,011 scholars with valid contracts and enrolment forms, despite pending requirements.
The balance will be released to these scholars upon submission of remaining documents to the CHED Regional Offices. Meanwhile, 933 scholars will receive no allowances due to non-submission of enrollment forms.
“We request our scholars with pending documentary submissions to please submit the remaining requirements to the CHED Regional Offices at the soonest possible time so that we can facilitate the release of allowances to our remaining grantees,” said the CHED Chairperson.
“We in CHED deeply regret the impact the delays has caused our scholars,” said Licuanan. “But it is important to understand the factors that contributed to these delays: among them, discrepancies and deficiencies in documents, the volume of documentation that required thorough vetting following initial audit, and the need to abide with government accounting and auditing rules, which we, as an agency, also had to comply with,” she said.
