EDCOM 2 backs charter overhaul as CHED, TESDA issues persist after 32 years

A congressional review panel says the Philippines is still battling the same systemic problems in higher and technical education 32 years after CHED and TESDA were established.

During the 23 April session of the Senate Committee on Higher and Technical-Vocational Education, Sen. Loren Legarda stressed that both CHED and TESDA continue to operate under legal frameworks enacted in 1994 that no longer reflect the scale and complexity of today’s higher and technical education landscape.

“More or less, we are still facing similar concerns today, 32 years after the creation of what should have been the governance response to solve these constraints,” the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) executive director Karol Mark Yee said.

Yee cited structural weaknesses in regulation, including the uneven deployment of oversight personnel, with some regions relying on a single officer to monitor nearly 200 higher education programs. 

He also flagged the continued proliferation of substandard institutions, saying these reflect the limitations of the current legal frameworks.

Both CHED chairperson Dr. Shirley Agrupis and TESDA Secretary Jose Francisco “Kiko” Benitez likewise expressed support for the modernization effort during the hearing. 

Agrupis underscored the need to preserve strong quality standards even as governance reforms are crafted, while Benitez framed the update as necessary to keep pace with labor market shifts and ensure more responsive training and certification systems. 

“If we set the right standards and strengthen our monitoring, we do not need quasi-judicial powers stipulated in the proposed measure,” Agrupis said.

Earlier this year, the Commission on Audit flagged billions of pesos in unliquidated tertiary education subsidy funds under CHED’s oversight, highlighting long-standing challenges in transparency and financial management across regions. 

Meanwhile, TESDA continues to face “structural contradictions”, serving at once as the regulator, the training provider, and the assessor for tech-voc programs, Benitez said.