CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government has renewed its memorandum of agreement with 22 colleges and universities for the city’s scholarship program.
All of the schools with city scholars, except for the Asian College of Technology, have signed the new contract yesterday.
Mayor Michael Rama said the city government did not anymore renew its contract with ACT after the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas found its owner, south district Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa, guilty of grave misconduct for conflict of interest.
A criminal case was also recommended for filing against Abellanosa before the Sandiganbayan.
ACT’s previous contract with the city government has been a subject of a complaint before the anti-graft office because it was entered into during Abellanosa’s stint as member of the City Council.
Rama finds it appropriate to exclude ACT in the renewal. He advised Abellanosa to settle his legal problem first.
“Normal ra to because ACT is already highlighted in the newspaper coverage and there is also a finding by the Ombudsman. Kung imo pa na ipa apil pirma didto maura’g maapil ko sa mga tawo na nagpaluyo didto. And I don’t think it would be correct to do that,” he said.
The mayor, however, assured the scholars who are already enrolled in ACT that they will be allowed to continue until they graduate. He said only incoming beneficiaries won’t be allowed to enroll in the said institution.
With the renewal of contracts, Rama said he wants a fair and just distribution of scholars to all partner schools of the city.
“We must always focus that these scholarships should not be taken wholesale, this scholarship has to be under the impression that we should be producing quality graduates” he said.
Rama is confident that under Councilor Alvin Dizon, chairman of the committee on education, and Ida Yting, head of the scholarship committee, the quality of scholars will be enhanced.
It has become an issue in the past that ACT has been given priority in the program. The school allegedly got the biggest chunk of enrollees.
Dizon expressed his gratitude to all the partner schools of the city for their continued trust with the city government.
“This is our humble contribution to make education more affordable and accessible to our people” he said.
The scholarship program provides each beneficiary P10,000 per semester for tuition and other related fees. Scholars who graduated from mountain barangays will also receive additional P1,000 transportation allowance
Among the colleges that renewed their contract with the city government include BMC Training Center for Welding and Fabrication, Banilad Center for Professional Development, Britech College Inc., CBD College, Cebu City Medical Center College of Nursing, Cebu Institute of Technology-University, Cebu Eastern College, Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Cebu Mary Immaculate College, Cebu Normal University, CRDP Caregiver School Corporation, College of Technological Sciences, Cebu Technological University, Don Bosco Technology, Golden Success College, Primary Structure Foundation Inc., STI College of Cebu, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, University of Cebu, University of the Visayas, and University of the Philippines-Cebu. (FREEMAN)