Free ride for students from uplands pushed

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government is planning to provide free transportation to college students in the mountain barangays instead of subsidizing their rents or building boarding houses for them in the city proper.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña intends to implement the new scheme before the May 2019 midterm elections next year.

After the Cebu City Hillyland Dormitory, which used to house the city scholars, was declared unfit for occupancy, the city government has started giving rent subsidies to the city’s 196 scholars.

Last month, the city disbursed over P1 million to the students, representing subsidy for a period of six months. After that, it remains to be seen whether Osmeña would continue the subsidy.

What he wants, he said, is to give them free transport to the city to and from their homes in the mountain areas.

“So you don’t have to put all the dorms here. Free transport for college students is okay lang. Why will we spend another P50 million to build boarding houses in the city? Why don't we just buy 10 buses and we'll just pay for the gas everyday so it will be going back and forth?” the mayor said.

Under Osmeña’s proposal, the bus will traverse the Transcentral Highway down to a mall in Barangay Lahug. Along the way, the vehicle may stop at established waiting sheds.

He said motorcycles-for-hire or habal-habals will serve as the “feeders” by carrying students from their sitios to the waiting sheds.

Osmeña recalled doing this during his previous terms when the city had several multicabs. He said it went smooth until the multicabs got busted.

Now, he intends to purchase buses instead of multicabs. If the private sector will not be interested in tying up with the city, he said the city itself will purchase 10 buses once the system is in place.

During the early years of operation, Osmeña said, the scheme will cater to college students only. Once it will be perfected, he will allow other people to ride the buses for free or with charges if they are not used to carry college students.

“It’s providing a service. Once it works, then maybe we can start charging (fares) and if they’re willing to pay, we can even take cargo, agricultural cargo,” he said.

The mayor said he will find a way to look for budget to fund the new system next year.

Osmeña shared a story that “really touched” him when he visited a mountain barangay.

“I learn a lot of things by direct experience. I thought of this idea okay ang mga high school graduates naay P10,000; ang taga bukid P20,000. So didto man ko sa Barangay Buot, I announced, okay, bag-ong graduates na kay P20,000,” he said.

When he announced it, a woman approached him on stage saying she wanted to go to college but she was not a fresh graduate.

Osmeña said he was ashamed after people looked at him when he denied the request of the woman. That is why he told the woman he will shoulder her tuition fee for four years in college since the scholarship program only caters to fresh graduates.

But when the woman started going to school, the mayor said he was asked again for monthly allowance, transportation allowance, among others.

That was how Osmeña decided he should provide free transportation services for the scholars in the mountain barangays. —/KBQ (FREEMAN)