This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 14, May 15-21, 2005
House Starts Probe on Tuition
Hikes
By Carl Marc Ramota
"Our lawmakers must act now
before it's too late. College education in the country is in the brink of a
breakdown. The first thing our legislators must to do is to scrap the
government's tuition deregulation policy," the Anak ng Bayan leader said. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
The successive closures of two of the country's leading pre-need
education firms finally prompted Congress to probe into tuition deregulation.
However, strong pressure from various associations of private school owners and
the weakness of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to control tuition
hikes show that the students' decades-long fight is far from over.
Bulatlat
Days after the May 4 joint meeting of the House of Representatives’ Committees
on Higher and Technical Education (CHTE) and on Basic Education and Culture (CBEC)
on tuition deregulation, Fr. Rolando dela Rosa resigned as chair of the
Commission on Higher Education (CHEd). He castigated the government and Congress
for "their lack of political will to implement reforms in higher education and
accused politicians of yielding to private school owners' interests."
But as the scuffle continues, so are the looming tuition increases for the
coming school year.
CHEd's Failure
The joint House committee meeting placed CHEd in a hot seat. The joint committee
was supposed to discuss four pending bills and two resolutions on tuition hikes.
House Bills 2904, 2268, 1601 and 738 seek to regulate tuition and other fees and
propose the creation of a tuition regulation board or council to determine
tuition rates. The bills were filed by Representatives Roquero, Tulagan,
Magsaysay, Figueroa, Celeste, Puentevella, Barinaga, Syjuco, Petilla, Codilla,
Amin and Nicolas.
A similar version, Senate bill 302, was filed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. in
the upper chamber.
Meanwhile, the House resolutions 35 and 100 direct the CHTE to investigate the
"apparent gross failure" of CHEd to regulate tuition and other school fees and
freeze proposed increases in tuition and miscellaneous fees pending
investigation. The authors include representatives from Bayan Muna, Anakpawis
and Gabriela Women's Party list.
CHEd's data revealed that average percentage increase in tuition for school year
2004-2005 ranged from 8 percent to 18 percent. On the other hand, the report on
the average tuition increase in private schools for the coming academic year is
yet to be finalized by CHEd.
The Commission admitted that it has the power to regulate tuition and other fees
based on Batas Pambansa 232, Section 42 or the Education Act of 1982 which
states that "all applications for proposed tuition and other fee increases are
subject to rules and regulations promulgated by CHEd." But private school owners
claim that the same law allows them to increase tuition in whatever rate they
want, so long as it undergoes the consultation process. School owners also
assert that other school fees are not covered by CHEd's supervision as it is not
included in the CHEd memorandum no. (CMO) 13 or the guidelines on proposed
tuition increase consultations which took effect in 1998.
On the other hand, Rizza Ramirez, national president of the National Union of
Students of the Philippines (NUSP) chided the Commission for its lack of
political will to stand up to private school owners. "The CHEd is toothless.
Since its creation, the Commission has been reduced into a mere monitoring
agency. Instead of acting as the controller, CHEd willingly serves as private
schools' legal stamp pad for proposed tuition increases," she pointed out.
Stalled implementation
Ramirez also criticized the Commission's failure to implement the revised
guidelines for tuition increase consultations, which was supposed to be
implemented last school year. "Two years have already passed and CHEd has yet to
implement the revised guidelines. This only shows the Commission can be quickly
maneuvered by private school owners whose interests will be affected by the new
guidelines."
Under the revised CMO 13, other school fees will now be included in the
consultation in both public and private higher education institutions. It also
changes the 15-day notice for concerned parties prior to consultation to 30
days.
"Schools pose zero or minimal tuition increase during enrolment but they have
been bloating miscellaneous fees which are mostly questionable, such as the
energy fee of the University of Santo Tomas, “aircon” fee of the University of
the East and the development fee," she said.
Ramirez however admitted that while the students clinched victories for the
revised guidelines, some provisions remain favorable only to school owners. "The
revised guidelines still allow schools to hike tuition without consultation if
the increase is less than or equivalent to the previous year's inflation rate
and in schools granted autonomous and deregulated status with level II
accreditation," she said.
Another scheme
Meanwhile, Raymond Palatino, Anak ng Bayan (children of the nation) Youth Party
vice president warned of another looming scheme to further institutionalize
tuition increase in higher education institutions.
"The current bills filed in Congress on tuition regulation are two-faced,”
Palatino said. “While they appear to favor regulation, these bills are proposing
for the creation of tuition boards which will only institutionalize unabated
yearly increases in tuition and other fees."
"It's useless if it will still be dominated by powerful private school owners
associations and CHEd and government officials which they can easily dictate,"
he said.
Instead, Palatino urged lawmakers to speed up investigations and review the
Education Act of 1982 which students since the 1980's have been fighting to be
scrapped.
He also called on lawmakers to probe schools which are frequently included in
the top 1,000 corporations in the country and freeze planned tuition increases
for the coming school year. Among these schools are Centro Escolar University (CEU),
Far Eastern University (FEU), Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT), University of
the East (UE), AMA Computer University and STI Colleges. Bulatlat