CHED: No allowances for 933 scholars because they didn’t submit enrollment forms

A total of 933 scholars will not receive allowances because they did not submit enrollment forms, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said on Thursday.

CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan, in a press release, urged scholars to submit the necessary requirements for the immediate release of their living allowances.

“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,” Licuanan said.

“We in CHED deeply regret the impact the delays has caused our scholars. 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,” Licuanan explained.

Licuanan said as of January 11, they have fully released allowances for 2,051 scholars who submitted complete requirements. The agency also approved the partial release of living allowances for 1,011 scholars with valid contracts and enrollment forms, despite pending requirements.

She also clarified that only 4,096 faculty scholars are experiencing delays in the release of living allowances, contrary to earlier reports which said that it amounted to 9,500 scholars.

Licuanan also vowed that the agency "has not stopped in its review and improvement of current systems since the program began in 2016."

"In fact, refinements have been integrated into the system regularly following each semester, to reduce potential errors and causes of delays,” Licuanan said.

Licuanan also denounced malicious allegations of corruption and mismanagement of funds allotted for the living allowances and other grants under the 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," Licuanan said.

CHED had acknowledged that the delays in releasing allowances have caused pain to scholars, many of whom rely on the living allowances for the daily subsistence of their families. — Anna Felicia Bajo/BM, GMA News