By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, Apr. 4 (PNA) — A total of Php 100 million every year has been earmarked to support qualified college and post-graduate students who can contribute to building up the country’s sugar industry, House Assistant Majority Leader and Cebu Rep. Gerard Anthony Gullas Jr. said over the weekend.
“The new Sugarcane Industry Development Law mandates an annual allocation of Php100 million for scholarships meant to aggressively develop the human resources needed to boost the sector’s productivity,” said Gullas, vice chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education.
He said Republic Act 10659 goes into effect on April 16.
Gullas said students taking up courses in agriculture, agricultural engineering and mechanics, chemical engineering/sugar technology and related fields may qualify for scholarships.
“Scholarships will also be available to finance relevant vocational courses and skills development for cane farmers and farm technicians, along with workers in sugar mills, refineries, distilleries and biomass power generating plants running on bagasse and trash,” he said.
Backed by 762,000 farmers and workers, the sugar industry contributed some Php 88 billion to the national economy in 2014.
Annual national output of the commodity is around 2.4 million metric tons, of which up to 10 percent is exported, mainly to the United States, according to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
The young solon previously revealed that three out of every five Filipino high school graduates will be unable to proceed to college, mainly because of financial hardship.
To ease the problem, he favors the appropriation of up to Php 11 billion to jumpstart more public-funded college scholarships, grants-in-aid, study-now-pay-later plans and low-cost student loans under the proposed Unified Financial Assistance System for Higher and Technical Education (UniFAST).
“We support the Senate’s initiative to set aside fresh funding for all forms of government-sponsored financial aid programs for college students from marginal households,” Gullas pointed out.
“We are duty-bound to give more meaning to the hopes and dreams of disadvantaged families to send their sons and daughters to college,” he added.
The Senate is set to approve on second reading the UniFAST bill, which the House earlier passed on third and final reading.
The Senate version of the bill that will be sent to the floor seeks to allocate an additional Php 11 billion for post-high school scholarships.
“We have to produce more college graduates in the years ahead, if we are to promote full employment and assure more families a rising standard of living, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution,” Gullas stressed.
A previous survey showed that a majority of Filipinos still consider higher education as key for them to prosper.
UniFAST seeks to boost the distribution of scholarships and other forms of financial assistance to needy college students.
The delivery of the aid will be reinforced via the improved targeting of recipients and unified standards for selection and retention.
The national government is spending some Php7.7 billion for post-secondary scholarships this year.
The country’s 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) have a combined Php3.5 billion available for scholarships. The Commission on Higher Education has another Php2.2-billion for student financial aid.
Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has Php2 billion for its Training for Work Scholarship Program.
The Visayan solon is the author of several education bills, including a measure that seeks to reinforce the English proficiency of Filipinos by reinstating the language as the medium of instruction in all school levels. (PNA)