THE Department of Justice on Monday issued a
legal opinion saying that the P854 million Higher Education
Development Fund of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
may be availed of by both public and private higher education
institutions.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez affirmed the
position of CHED Legal Service director Carmelita Yadao-Sison
that the fund may be used by both government and privately owned
universities and colleges.
The fund may also be accessed by individual
academics, either public or private, as well as degree-granting
programs in all post-secondary educational institutions, as long
as the objectives of the approved programs or projects are
devoted for the strengthening of higher education in the
Philippines.
CHED acting chairman Romulo Neri requested
the DOJ opinion in line with the implementation of the agency’s
current projects which are intended to raise the quality of
higher education pursuant to its mandate under the Higher
Education Act of 1994 (RA 7722).
Gonzalez noted that although RA 7722 provides
the conditions to be observed in the preparation of the
guidelines for the use of the fund, it does not say that the
fund shall be for the exclusive use of public educational
institutions of higher learning.
"Basic is the rule in statutory
interpretation that when the law is clear, plain and free from
ambiguity, it must be given its literal meaning without
attempted interpretation. Equally elementary is the rule that
were the law does not distinguish, no distinction should be
made," he said.
But the DOJ said any school established or
organized as a stock corporation shall be ineligible for any
form of government subsidy, incentive or assistance, except
those given to individual students and teachers in the form of
scholarships, student loans, or other forms of subsidy as
already mandated under existing laws.
Gonzalez added that government assistance to non-stock
schools for educational programs shall be used exclusively for
that purpose. – Evangeline C. de Vera
