City scholars can claim allowance sans parents

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Michael Rama will no longer require the parents of Cebu City scholars to accompany their children in collecting the P1,000 allowance either at their respective schools or from City Hall.

The P1,000 allowance is intended to augment the scholars’ budget for school supplies.

Ester Cubero, the mayor’s consultant on education matters, said each of the close to 9,000 scholars of Cebu City can now collect the P1,000 allowance even without their parents.

“Sa una gi-require kadto ni mayor nga kinahanglang anaa g’yud ang mga ginikanan kay aron sila mahibalo kay basin og gastohon lang sa mga scholars sa lain ang gihatag kanila nga allowance,” Cubero said.

Rama explained that he required one of the parents to accompany their children when they collect the P1, 000 allowance so he could remind them of their obligation to their children.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, however, was critical of the policy. He said requiring the parents to accompany their children is too much because it needs some of them to be absent from their respective work because, considering that the allowance is usually distributed on a working day.

The criticism drew a hint of sarcasm from Rama who said, “Mind your own business.”

Young quickly reacted by saying “I was elected as vice mayor of the city so it’s my business especially when the mayor does irresponsible things, which put our scholars and parents in a disadvantage. It’s my business when he makes the students and parents spend time and money from P200 to P500 for fares just to receive P1,000.”

Explaining why scholars of some schools still have not received their allowance, Cubero said some schools submitted their billings late while others still failed to submit their billings.

Of the 20 schools accredited by the city to accept scholars, the Asian College of Technology (ACT) has the highest number of students, followed by the University of Cebu, Cebu Technological University and CIT University.

Cubero said the scholars studying at CIT University still cannot collect their allowance because their documents are still pending before the City Accounting Office. She, nevertheless, assured that it can be collected by January.

Each scholar enjoys a P20,000 scholarship grant at P10,000 per semester. – (FREEMAN)