PRIVATE SCHOOLS should be subject to independent audits when proposing a tuition increase to determine its necessity, a House member said.
During a question and answer portion of a forum titled “Power to the Polls: The UST Voter Empowerment Forum 2025,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers partylist Rep. France Castro, who is running for senator in the midterm polls, called for transparency into the financial status of schools, citing the supposed lack of decent livelihood for many educators.
“We need full transparency in the private sector to truly determine whether tuition should be raised,” she said on Tuesday, April 29.
“So, ‘yun yung unang-una, magkaroon ng independent na audit talaga na walang kakayanan ‘yung mga private sector na magtaas ng sweldo ng ating mga guro,” the congresswoman added.
(So, that’s first and foremost, have an independent audit [to ensure] that the private sector is really incapable of increasing the salary of our teachers.)
Autonomous institutions, including UST, may raise tuition and other school fees without the approval of the Commission on Higher Education and are prioritized in the grant of subsidies and other incentives.
According to Castro, an independent audit is “necessary” as teaching personnel in public and private schools grapple with inadequate wages.
“Public man o private, hanggang ngayon po, except for ‘yung mga malalaking private school… nanatili pong hindi nakakaabot sa disente at nakabubuhay na sweldo, ang sweldo ng karamihan sa ating mga teachers,” she said.
(Public or private, until now, except for big private schools, the wages of our teachers fall short of being decent and livable.)
The senatorial bet also urged faculty members’ legally mandated share of proceeds from tuition hikes to be provided “without delay.”
Under CHED Memorandum Order No. 8, series of 2012, 70% of tuition hike proceeds must be allocated for the benefits and salaries of academic and non-academic personnel.
Since October last year, the University administration and faculty union have been embroiled in back-and-forth disagreements in their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations, which have led to teachers’ filing a strike notice before the labor department and seeking its mediation to resolve the dispute.
Having finished their penultimate dialogue, both parties reconciled on four provisions and the management also agreed to release P27.8 million of the faculty’s P246 million tuition hike proceeds by May 20. The rest of the shares would be distributed upon the ratification of a CBA, the University insisted.
Political dynasties
In the same forum, Makabayan senatorial candidate Jerome Adonis said political dynasties fuel corruption at all levels of government, leaving communities trapped in poverty and poor governance.
“Sino ba yung mga number one na corrupt? Walang iba kung hindi yung mga traditional politician. Pinalalakas pa yan ngpolitical dynasty sa kasalukuyan. Kaya makikita niyo, kapag malakas, maraming pamipamilya ang magkakasama sa local hanggang sa national level ng pamumuno, nandu’n pinakamatindi ang korupsyon,” Adonis said.
(Who are the number one corrupt people? None other than the traditional politicians. The current political dynasty is strengthening that. So you can see, when there are strong, many families come together at the local to national level of leadership, that is where corruption is most intense.)
Labor leader Ronel Arambulo echoed the statement, saying meaningful reforms would remain stalled as long as dynasties dominate elected positions.
“[H]indi mangyayari ang lahat ng ito hangga’t ang mga nakaupuya sa Kongreso at sa Senado ay mula sa mga political dynasties, mula sa diliman at kasamaan. Dapat palitan ng taong bayan sa Kongreso at sa Senado.”
(None of this will happen as long as those who are in power in Congress and the Senate are from political dynasties, from darkness [to] evil. The people must replace them in Congress and the Senate.)
This concentration of power, Arambulo said, blocks the passage of long-overdue laws, such as the Freedom of Information Bill and the removal of confidential funds from non-surveillance agencies.
The forum, which was held at the UST Blessed Giorgio Frassati Auditorium, gathered 16 senatorial candidates to speak on various issues in the country. F
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