THE 2026 budget for the Cebu Province Grants Intended for Tertiary Students (CP-Gifts) will be reduced to cover P6.5 million in unsettled payments.
Provincial Assistant Administrator Aldwin Empaces said Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, that the unsettled amount covers scholarship grants from the 2023–2024 school year. The P6.5 million will be deducted from the P150 million earmarked for the program this year, leaving a working budget of P143.5 million.
“Based on the latest update yesterday, around P6.5 million ang bayronon,” Empaces said.
Empaces said the executive department discovered a disparity between the approved budget and the actual number of beneficiaries three months ago.
“Wala mo-match sa budget over number of beneficiaries, so, magsige og augment, magtapak-tapak ba,” he said.
The P6.5 million in payables will be released this January along with other student incentives, Empaces said.
In a Dec. 17, 2025 report by SunStar Cebu, scholars appealed to the Provincial Government to address yearlong delays in the release of allowances for the 2024 and 2025 semesters.
New rules
On Dec. 18, the Office of the Governor, under Gov. Pamela Baricuatro, augmented the CP-Gifts budget by P75 million to settle delayed payments caused by a higher-than-expected number of scholars.
To prevent future funding gaps, Empaces said Baricuatro has directed the formulation of implementing rules and regulations for the program. The new rules will strengthen monitoring and ensure the number of beneficiaries aligns strictly with the approved budget.
The Office of the Governor repeatedly augmented funds in previous years because the approved budget did not match the actual number of beneficiaries, which resulted in payment delays and weak monitoring, Empaces said.
The Provincial Government is also shifting to a cash-based disbursement system to ensure fiscal discipline.
The approved CP-Gifts budget for 2025 was P50 million. For 2026, the budget was set at P150 million before the planned deduction for payables.
In September 2025, the Provincial Government amended the program to include 2,500 scholarship slots for the Office of the Governor and 1,000 for the Office of the Vice Governor. These are on top of the 100 slots allocated to each Provincial Board member. / CDF