Magpale Wants More Slots for Paglaum Scholarship

To pave the way for more indigent applicants who wished to avail the benefits of the Paglaum Scholarship Program, the Capitol will inform officials of state universities and colleges (SUC) in Cebu that they will have to exclude SUC scholars in their screening process, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said.

During the sidelines of the scholarship screening on Thursday, Magpale said she is preparing a letter to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) asking its officials for the list of scholars following reports that there are CHED beneficiaries who are trying their luck in the Paglaum grant.

Magpale steered the screening of some 281 Paglaum applicants coming from the 11 LGUs of Cebu’s third, fifth and seventh legislative district.

“Right now we are preparing a letter, nangayo mi og listahan sa CHED scholars,” Magpale said.

Magpale assured to increase the number of Paglaum scholars to 600 from their original 300 slots.

She added that slots would increase a hundred more as Kabayan Partylist Representative Harry Roque commits to subsidize 100 students.

This brings a total of 700 scholarship slots for qualified applicants for the coming school opening in June.

Magpale’s statement over the additional number of scholars came after the CHED’s announcement of the P 600 million free-tuition grants to five SUCs in Central Visayas.

The Cebu Technological University (CTU) was among the recipients of the P8 billion grant that was included in the 2017 national budget to remove tuition on government-funded schools.

With a total allocation of P7.789 million, CTU received the highest budget ceiling amounting to P379.192 million.

Among the SUCs in Central Visayas include Cebu Normal University (CNU), Bohol Island State University (BISU), Siquijor State College and Negros Oriental State University.

“With this announcement, P850 na lang each tingali ang atong mabayran sa matricula ug ma-maintain nato ang ilang P1,500 monthly allowance,” said Magpale. (OCP)