Solon warns officials holding school records of students

With economic hardships driving more students to transfer to public schools or stop schooling altogether, Buhay party-list Rep. Irwin Tieng has filed a bill penalizing school officials who withhold school records until students settle their accounts.

“They are like kidnappers or hostage-takers who make people pay up under duress or suffer dire consequences,” said Tieng, principal author of House Bill 6627, also known as the Act Prohibiting the Withholding of Students’ Official Records for Transfer Purposes by Reason of Non-Payment of School Tuition and other necessary fees.

Under the bill, school officials or employees who withhold the release of students’ records will face a fine ranging from P10,000 to P 50,000 or imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than six months, or both.

The bill would make it “unlawful for any school, university or college in the country to withhold or to otherwise cause, directly or indirectly, the delay in the release of the official records of the students for transfer purposes by reason of non-payment, in part or in full, of tuition or other necessary fees.”

Tieng’s bill provides, however, that students who obtain their school records in the middle or end of semester for reason of indigency should sign a promissory note covering the unpaid obligation.

“The promissory note, executed by the guardians or parents of the students, shall be secured by either a mortgage or by a guarantee of a co-maker, who will jointly and severally be liable with the students for the unpaid obligation. Further, they must present a certificate of indigency issued by their respective local government units or proof of insolvency,” Tieng’s bill said.

Tieng filed the bill amid numerous complaints from parents and students who are unable to get their transcript of records and certificates and other school records.

He said more and more students are driven out of schools or forced to stop schooling due to the world economic recession, the massive retrenchments, the rising number of unemployed, the rising prices of commodities, the recent 15 percent increase in tuition and the fall of many pre-need agencies.

Buhay Reps. Rene Velarde and Ma. Carissa Coscolluela co-authored Tieng’s bill. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune