A member of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education is calling for a radical increase in investment for the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), citing reports that the agency is too understaffed to ensure the quality of Philippine degrees.

Solid North Partylist Representative Ching Bernos on Sunday backed findings from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) which revealed “extreme deficiencies” in the commission’s ability to monitor colleges and universities.

“It is a well-established fact that the Commission on Higher Education is stretched to its limits,” Bernos said. “They are severely lacking in staff, leaving them unable to fulfill their mandate no matter how much they want to.”

According to the EDCOM 2 final report, titled Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reform (2026–2035), CHEd currently employs only 398 plantilla personnel to monitor 37,443 undergraduate and graduate programs.

These programs are spread across 1,980 institutions serving 3.8 million students.

The report cited that in some regions, a single staff member is responsible for overseeing more than 200 academic programs. Due to this shortage, CHEd has managed to review only 13 percent of programs scheduled for monitoring.

Of those reviewed, 84 percent were found to have deficiencies ranging from inadequate facilities to weak faculty qualifications.

Data also showed that it takes the commission an average of 11 years to update standards for college degree programs.

Bernos warned that failing to equip the commission could result in graduates holding diplomas that lack the necessary academic substance.