CEGP, NUSP question city scholarship

CEBU, Philippines - Various complaints were raised by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) and National Union of Students of the Philippines Cebu (NUSP) regarding the Cebu City scholarship program.

The two groups also called from a review of the program.

Among their accusations is the conflict of interest against Cebu City Councilor Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa who owns the Asian College of Technology (ACT) where the most number of Cebu City scholars are enrolled, and who allegedly favors scholars to study in his school.

“Something is wrong with the scholarship program of Cebu City and city scholars in UP nearly missed enrolment. Cebu City officials need to review the program,” said Melanie Montaño, CEGP-Cebu chapter chairperson.

NUSP chairperson and a Cebu City scholar Jun Marr Denila echoed the call of CEGP Cebu for a review of the program.

Vice Mayor Augustus Joy Young, who was in charge of the Cebu City scholarship program established in 2009 but was replaced by Councilor Joy Daluz early this year by Mayor Michael Rama, said that reviewing the scholarship program will be fine.

He said that in the two years that he has been in charge of it, there are still lots of things to do but his plans were not pursued after he was replaced.

However, Young said the accusations raised by CEGP and NUSP against Abellanosa, a congressional candidate, were politically motivated.

“There’s no problem when it comes to reviewing the scholarship program. But, it seemed that the one spreading these accusations sounded to be political to me. I wonder why?” Young told The FREEMAN.

Young learned that CEGP and NUSP are staff members of Abellanosa’s opponent, Atty. Totol Batuhan. Young is concerned that the organization is being used for political motivation.

CEGP observed that majority of Cebu City scholars had enrolled in ACT and that Abellanosa refers the city scholars enrolled there as “scholars ni Bebot”, named after Abellanosa’s nickname.

“Taphaw ra kaayo ang statement that there are more students in ACT because they should know the real reason why there are more students in the said school. Where’s the proof of the pressure on these scholars enrolling at ACT. Naay choice ang mga bata kung asa sila moskwela pero nganung mao man ilang gipili? It’s because ACT is the cheapest and most of the people will really look for a cheaper school in order to study in college,” Young said.

Both CEGP and NUSP made an inquiry and found out that records of the city scholarship program strengthened the accusation of alleged conflict of interest. Abellanosa allegedly benefitted from the scholarship program.

“We recognize the scholarship program and the efforts of the city government to give a chance to students who cannot pursue a tertiary education because of financial constraints, but it is troubling how Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa took advantage of the program,” said John Lord Escatron, NUSP Cebu Coordinator.

Young said that Abellanosa has the right to give a name to the scholars of his school since he is giving the “Scholars ni Bebot” the best privileges to Cebu City scholars.

According to CEGP-NUSP’s inquiry, ACT absorbed a total of 15,658 Cebu City scholars and thus, was paid by the Cebu City government a total of P156.58 million since the first semester of school year 2010-2011 up to the present.

In contrast, the far second University of Cebu had a total of only 8,553 scholars since 2010. At P10,000 tuition assistance for each scholar, the total outlay from the Cebu City scholarship program paid directly to UC only reached P85.53 million.

The figures are based on reports submitted by Amed Amor Seno, secretariat member of the scholarship committee, and Ester Cubero, scholarship committee member, to the office of Mayor Michael Rama.

Escatron pointed out that Abellanosa has no right to call the Cebu City scholars in ACT ‘Scholars ni Bebot’ because in the first place, the city government is the one paying for them.

“Abellanosa should not be in the scholarship committee of the city government. No matter how you look at it, there is a conflict of interest. He has a hand on how the scholarship program works and he owns the school with the most number of city scholars,” Escatron said.

Denila said the city government should review the policies of the scholarship program.

There should be a close monitoring on aspects like the regulation of the number of scholars per school.

“With different issues involving the scholarship program, the city government should be able to find ways to solve them. On the other hand, we call on students to remain vigilant and critical to the local situation in their schools such as transparency of fees, and tuition increases,” said Denila.

“We must not be blinded by the perceived charity of our administrators and instead, remain steadfast in our call to quality and accessible education for all,” Escatron added.

The scholarship program was designed to improve the quality of life through education, said Cubero.

The Cebu City government is very supportive in endeavors involving education, she added.

Regarding the regulation of the number of students in a school, Young said he is willing to answer the questions that CEGP and NUSP raised for them to be enlightened. —/MBG (FREEMAN)