Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday, September 29, said Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero “Popoy” De Vera III should explain the issue surrounding the alleged “ghost scholars” before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and not before the media.

“The Chair should make his case before the Blue Ribbon, not before the media,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“The complaints of ghost scholars came from reports of students who have been writing to us. At gusto ko linawin na itong partikular na complaint tungkol sa ghost scholars ay dumating sa aking tanggapan pagkatapos ng Zoom meeting na request ni Chair De Vera ay aking pinaunlakan (I just want to clarify that this particular complaint about ghost scholars was received by my office after I agreed to a Zoom meeting that was requested by Chair De Vera),” the senator said.

Last August 2022, Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution No. 128, seeking a Senate investigation on the implementation of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST), after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged almost P7-billion worth of “questionable releases” under the CHED’s scholarship agency.

But the matter was raised when the Senate Finance Committee tackled CHED’s proposed P30.7-billion budget for 2023 earlier this week.

Hontiveros said her office has been swamped by complaints from almost 400 students who claimed that they have not yet received their education subsidy.

De Vera has rejected the allegations and have asked Hontiveros to submit to the committee names and documents to check the veracity of the complaints.

The CHED chairman said that there have always been complaints hounding the government’s social welfare programs, but the best way to resolve it is to look at the evidence.

But Hontiveros said it should be CHED who should look into the identity of the individuals who received the fund, pointing out that the concerned students who expressed their grievances on social media platforms have requested that their identities be withheld for fear of reprisal.

“The resolution we filed appears to have opened a can of worms and every day they look away and gaslight our scholars, we get more complaints,” Hontiveros said.

This, combined with adverse findings by COA, she said “appears to show a pattern of multiple irregularities regarding UNIFAST.”

“Walang humpay ang dating ng mga reklamo. Nakakalungkot dahil ang nararamdaman nila ay wala silang ibang masandalan at mapagakatiwalaan (Complaints continue to pour in. It’s sad that they feel they can’t trust no one). CHED should work on restoring that trust rather than dismissing the reports that my office receives,” the senator pointed out.

“Daan daan ang estudyante na ang nagrereklamo kaya para sa akin, panahon na para sa isang pormal na pagdinig, imbes na sa media nagtatanungan ng mga ebidensya. For the sake of our students, kailangan himayin ang lahat ng issue (Hundreds of students are complaining, that’s why for me, it’s time to conduct a formal hearing, instead of asking for evidences through the media. For the sake of our students, we need to scrutinize all the issue),” she said.