Congress is considering invoking its oversight powers to stop private schools from unduly raising tuition even as Malaca?ang is using the moral suasion.

Congress is empowered to demand justification for any increase in tuition and other fees, according to Speaker Prospero Nograles.

?This is the worst time to increase tuition. A lot of people are losing their jobs and can hardly send their children to school,? Nograles said yesterday.

While private schools are allowed under the law to increase tuition, they should do so only if justified, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.

Nograles warned that the House of Representatives can assert its oversight powers to demand justification from schools, which will insist on increasing their tuition and other school fees.

The House may even support a proposal for a three-year freeze on tuition, Nograles warned. He did not elaborate.

To ease the plight of students who can no longer afford to pay tuition, the government has been increasing its assistance to deserving students, Remonde said.

?That?s why President Arroyo doubled this year the budget for our scholarship program, through the Commission on Higher Education, and Tesda [Technical Education and Skills Development Authority] for vocational training,? Remonde said.

The P1.415-trillion budget for 2009 earmarks P7.2 billion for scholarships, including P3.7 billion for the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education, a program that is intended for 665,975 high school students.

Another P508 million is set aside for scholarships under the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute, for a combined 13,500 beneficiaries.

The new funding likewise includes P1 billion for Tesda?s Training for Work Scholarship Program, for 150,000 grantees; another P851 million under the Commission on Higher Education, for 51,797 scholars; plus P692 million for 3,226 students at the Philippine Science High School. Roy Pelovello