SCHOLARSHIP FUND MESS

THE Dagupan City government again released funds for 264 scholars on March 13, the second in two weeks, bringing the total number of scholars verified to be legitimate scholars out of the total 2,300 scholars of the past Lim administration and received their one semester of educational assistance of P20,500.

In an interview, Mayor Belen Fernandez revealed the second batch of scholars who received the educational aid were among the 305 names submitted by her office to the City Accounting Office for payout who were initially excluded from the 781 grantees for failing to comply with some requirements provided for under City Ordinance No. 2010-2020 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

The requirements include that the grantee must be a resident of Dagupan and belongs to an indigent family as certified by his or her barangay captain, must have a weighted average in all subjects of 80 percent; has no failing grades, enrolled in all subjects consisting of 18 units except if he or she is already graduating; and their grades must be certified by the dean or registrar of the university or college where he or she is enrolled.

Using strictly this guideline, 49 scholars were found by the office of City Accountant Rosario Catugas to have not met the requirements stipulated in City Ordinance 2020-2020 and its IRR and so were excluded from the second batch of beneficiaries of educational assistance.

The mayor said if deficiencies of the 49 scholars are just minor, they will be included in the third batch for final payout and documentation, particularly the few who were simply late in the submission of their needed documents.

There were 1,206 scholars of the past Dagupan City administration that were already excluded from the roster after they were verified to be non-residents of Dagupan or aliens, ghost or non-existent scholars, dummy scholars and those with failing grades or enrolled in only few subjects.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier confirmed that P3.1 million of scholarship funds were paid by the past city administration to “disqualified scholars” for being not residents, with failed grades, incomplete grades, no grades, ghost scholars and dummy scholars.

Fernandez said there will be no consideration for “non-resident scholars” even if they submitted high grades because the ordinance made that clear that only Dagupeños must be qualified to receive funds from the city government.

She said there will be another payout of educational assistance for the second semester of the academics year.

However, she said funds for the new batch of scholars validated by her administration will only receive their benefits with the passage of the 2023 annual city budget whose approval remains withheld by the majority members of the city council. (Leonardo Micua)

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