The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has been asked by all six of Manila’s House representatives to use updated rates to reimburse the city government-run Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) for approximately P340 million in college scholarships it awarded to students under the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) program.
House Resolution No. 2126, submitted by Manila Representatives Ernesto Dionisio Jr., Rolando Valeriano, Joel Chua, Edward Maceda, Irwin Tieng, and Bienvenido Abante Jr., noted PLM’s “dire financial situation” as a result of CHEd’s refusal to pay what it owed the university for the academic year (AY) 2023-2024.
They stated that without the compensation, the university will be unable to continue operations after June 2025.
The lawmakers noted that, unlike state universities and colleges, the PLM does not receive allocations from the General Appropriations Act and is not entirely funded by the City of Manila. “Prior to 2018, (PLM) had been constrained to collect tuition and other school fees from its students to augment its budget,” they said.
Despite this, in 2018, the PLM followed CHEd Memorandum Order No. 11 (CMO 2018-11), which mandated it and other public institutions to exempt qualified students from paying tuition and other fees under Republic Act No. 10931 or its UniFAST scholarship program.
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“PLM would be entitled to reimbursement by the CHEd for the tuition and other school fees it would otherwise be collecting from its students,” the memorandum states.
Delayed Hike
In 2018, the institution was ready to go ahead but delayed tuition and other fee increase due to RA 10931’s five-year ban on rate hikes. PLM charged P293 a unit at the time, while other state institutions and universities were already charging P1,200.
“After the five-year moratorium expired in January 2023, the PLM Board of Regents issued Board Resolution No. 5057, raising the rates of tuition and other school fees. Particularly, tuition was increased from P293 per unit to P1,200 per unit,” the lawmakers said in their resolution.
The revised fees for the academic year 2023-2024 were presented to CHEd, which had no concerns.
The lawmakers stated, “Ched has not yet committed to reimburse the PLM using these new rates after two fiscal years.”
Depleted
The PLM had been losing money and had to use its reserves, which are now regrettably exhausted, to make up for the operating shortfalls of previous years, they continued.
“If CHEd and UniFAST continue to reimburse PLM using the old rates, [it] would not have enough funds to continue operating beyond the middle of next year,” they said, asserting the school’s legal entitlement to be reimbursed using the updated rates.
As per a report at Inquirer, CHEd Chair Prospero de Vera III told that “as far as I know, CHED has no unpaid funds to PLM.”
According to him, UniFAST always downloads (transfers) money to the school in question after it provides the necessary reimbursement documentation.
De Vera stressed, however, that the lawmakers might be talking about the leftover payments for the current AY 2024–2025 semester.
“Unifast is still awaiting downloading of funds from DBM (Department of Budget and Management),” he said. “It will be given to them as soon as DBM gives the money to CHEd-UniFAST.”
