Gan frowns over council’s use of word ‘scholarship’ in aid program

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent

IT’S a just a matter of semantics but Councilor Leon Gan has criticized the city council’s passage of the 2018 Cagayan de Oro Scholarship Code authored by councilors Suzette Daba and Ian Mark Nacaya.

Gan said the word “scholarship” in the new ordinance is incorrect, pointing out that it was unclear if the criteria are based on academic performance or not.

“We are talking about scholarship, and the word ‘scholarship’ [is associated with] academics or achievement. The criteria should be based on performance. But if we talk about helping the poor and the undeserving, probably, channel it to another department, through another means, and not [through a] scholarship program,” he said.

Gan said city hall can help the poor and undeserving but not through a scholarship program.

He questioned a provision in the Code that allows those who have resided in the city for at least six months to qualify.

Gan said those who should benefit from the program should be students who finished their elementary and high school education in the city. “Kinahanglan lumad gyud nga taga-Cagayan de Oro ang mahatagan gyud sa pagtagad,” he said.

Councilor Daba said the scholarship program would be implemented, initially, under the City Social Welfare and Development office until another city hall office is created to handle it.

Daba said there are six types of scholarships under the new code, and low income families with a monthly income of P5,000 or less would benefit from it.

Councilor Nacaya said the Code provides a scholarship program that is the first of its kind in the country. He said poor families displaced by infrastructure projects of the city government can also avail of it.

Nacaya said the Code increased by 40 percent the grant for tuition compared to what city hall scholars previously received. The amount would be increased by 10 percent every year, he said.