City told: Continue scholarship program

COUNCILOR Edgar Ibuyan Sr. sought Tuesday for the continuation of a scholarship program he initiated after his three-year term ends next year.

He expressed fears that thousands of beneficiaries may no longer receive financial support after the end of his term.

According to him, the Rody Sagop Bata para sa Kaugmaon scholarship program started in 2007 during his first term as a city councilor.

"Daghan kaayo tao sa sulod nangayo ug tabang. Kahilakon ta mag tan-aw sa sulod. Pero nangayo man ko budget kang mayor. Iya man gidungagan. Ang uban, matuloy-tuloy nato, ang uban ginahatag nako sa Step or the Scholarship on Tertiary Education Program (A lot of students want to be part of our program. I am emotional seeing them here today. I already asked Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for financial assistance. Hopefully, this program will continue)," Ibuyan told reporters in an interview Tuesday morning.

Based on the roster of scholars, the program started with a total of 934 students (480 elementary, 353 high school, and 101 college students) had benefited from the scholarship program. The number ballooned through the years.

In school year 2013-2014, the program had 11,510 scholars (6,755 elementary, 3,274 secondary, and 1,481 tertiary) in 262 schools city-wide.

More students availed themselves of the scholarship program in school year 2014-2015, with a total number of 14,218 (8,432 elementary, 3,855 high school, and 1,931 college students).

"Kada tuig, naay bag-o, naa pud mga mag-graduate (We have new scholars and graduates every year)," he said.

Ibuyan said there is no limit as to the number of scholars they can accommodate annually.

He said they monitor the attendance of these students every school year.

“Number of days ra atong ginatan-aw kung misulod gyud ba. Interest ra man gud ang atong qualification ani para mahimo sila nga scholar (We just monitor the number of days. The only requirement for this scholarship is interest among students),” he said.

Ibuyan said the scholarship program is funded under the Annual Development Fund.

It got P15 million during his first term, P9 million on his second term, and P6 million for his last term.

“Naa pa man tay pondo karon. So ako na ginapaspasan atiman ang mga scholars karon (We still have some funds and so I am facilitating the processing of scholars),” he said.

"Pero ma-presidente naman atong mayor, mudako na gyud ni atong budget para sa mga bata. Para mapadayon ilang pag-eskwela, tuloy-tuloy ang programa (But if the mayor becomes president, then we can expect a bigger budget so that these children can stay in school and our program will be sustained)," he joked.

Since it is his last term at the City Council, Ibuyan said he will again run as barangay captain of Barangay 5-A in 2016.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph