Group awards scholarships to Aetas

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

GUAGUA -- The House of David Group, through its subsidiaries Bank of Florida and House of David Foundation, awarded on Tuesday 35 Aetas from various towns in the second district with scholarship grants.

The 35 Aetas are part of 247 recipients of the grants under House of David Group’s “Handog Karunungan,” which was launched in 2003.

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Every semester, some P3.2 million worth of scholarships are awarded to poor but deserving students, who are accorded free tuition and miscellaneous as well as board and lodging.

The scholarship is for the Aetas to realize their desire of quality tertiary education at the conglomerate’s Mary the Queen College in this town.

Mary the Queen College is known to be the first private college to give young Aetas the opportunity to get good education. Through the past years, the school assisted the Aetas into the academic mainstream, said Mary the Queen College president Michael Lapid.

“By giving them this opportunity, they will be able to cascade their learnings to their fellow Aetas in the mountains who can’t make it to the college. That way, it becomes sustainable and our objective of providing them continuing education is realized,” Lapid said.

For Teresa David-Carlos, Bank of Florida chief executive officer and House of David Foundation executive vice-president, “Handog Karunungan” is part of their family’s way of giving back to communities their blessings.

“We have this family mission where we have vowed to share to needy communities our blessings, resources and time. The David Family of three generations is always ready to extend assistance to these students and we are very happy that their dreams are coming true,” David-Carlos said during the awarding ceremonies at the Mary the Queen College campus.

Both Aetas Mariset Abuque and Joey Saplala, second year education scholars from Kamias in Porac, said the grants are an inspiration for them to study hard

“Nais po naming makatapos at makapagturo sa aming kapwa katutubo sa bundok. Kaya lubos po ang aming pasasalamat sa House of David,” according to Abuque and Saplala.

Members of the first batch of Aeta scholars, with BS Mathematics degrees, are expected to graduate March next year.