Manila, Feb. 27 -- A party-list lawmaker on Thursday called for a joint motu proprio inquiry into allegations of "ghost beneficiaries" in the Department of Education's (DepEd) Senior High School (SHS) voucher program.

Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon urged the House Committees on Basic Education and Culture and Good Government and Public Accountability to look into reports that private schools have been listing non-existent students since 2016 to avail of the government program.

Bongalon said preliminary findings suggest that these phantom beneficiaries have siphoned millions of pesos from the education budget, undermining the program's original purpose of decongesting public schools and supporting legitimate learners.

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