Insufficient funds delay release of DOST scholars' stipend — official

MANILA, Philippines — The lack of funds for the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Education Institute’s (DOST-SEI) cash program led to the delayed release of their undergraduate scholars’ stipends, the agency said on Thursday, September 5. 

Minority lawmaker Rep. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan Party-list) questioned the agency during the hearing on their proposed 2025 budget about why it takes months to release stipends for DOST scholars, particularly those located in the National Capital Region (NCR) and CALABARZON.   

According to DOST-SEI officer-in-charge Albert Mariño, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) denied the agency’s request for additional appropriations. 

“Nag-request po kami ng additional appropriations doon sa aming requirement so talagang hindi na-approve ng DBM nung time na yun,” he said.

(We requested for additional appropriations in our requirement so the DBM did not approve it at that time)

Meanwhile, DBM Assistant Director Joanna Galarpe said their agency does not have a pending request for additional cash allocation for that purpose.

This prompted Rep. Stella Quimbo (Marikina City, 2nd District) to urge the DBM and DOST-SEI to review the status of the request, noting that this is not the first time the agency has asked for additional funds.  

How are the funds transferred? DOST secretary Renato Solidum Jr. said that the DBM releases funds to the agency, and the agency is in charge of delivering them to each university.

Once DOST receives the funds, the agency will distribute them to the university’s coordinator. The coordinator is then responsible for the transfer of the stipend to students under the DOST-SEI scholarship program.

However, Solidum said that the problem sometimes stems from universities, where students fail to submit their grades — a requirement that determines whether DOST-SEI will continue issuing stipends to their scholars. 

“Minsan doon nagkakaproblema kasi minsan ‘yung mga bata hindi naman nagbibigay ng grades or nakakasubmit kaagad,” he said.

(Sometimes that's where the problem arises because some students don't submit their grades or aren't able to submit them right away.)

What is DOST proposing? While the DOST thought of sending the stipend directly to their scholars’ bank account, Solidum reiterated that students may not receive their stipend for the next semester if they do not submit the required documents.  

“The problem we see is on the university’s side,” the secretary added.  

Instead, Solidum proposed to create a “core group” for each university, whose members will be employees of DOST instead of the university coordinator. The members will be in charge of disbursing the stipends. 

According to DOST’s presentation during the budget hearing, they are supporting 46,234 undergraduate students for Academic Year 2024 to 2025. Each scholar is entitled to a monthly stipend of P8,000 and tuition fee grants amounting to P40,000 a year. 

Asked if DOST plans to increase the number of beneficiaries for DOST scholarships, Solidum said that it is their intention but it will also rely on the quality of education that students receive from primary to secondary.

“We plan to increase the scholarships. That’s the intention. We hope many will pass because we have standards, and so that will also be dependent on our education from primary to elementary to high school as we need to improve that as well,” he added in mix of English and Filipino.