Albay allots P236M for one college grad per family programs

LEGAZPI CITY—The Albay provincial government will spend at least P236 million to finance the college education of 34,160 scholars this school year under a set of programs that seeks to produce one college graduate per family in the province.

The program is entering its second year. Gov. Joey Salceda said the province borrowed P150 million from the Land Bank to partly finance the program. The loan carries an interest rate of 8 percent per annum and is payable in 10 years.

The province, he said, will shell out P86 million of its “organic funds” for the program.

Provincial records said a total of 16,160 are currently enrolled in the program called Albay Higher Education Contribution Scheme (Ahecs). A student who qualifies would receive P5,000 in tuition.

Ahecs beneficiaries are expected to repay the amount upon their employment.

At least 13,000 other students benefit from another program, Education Quality for Albayanos (Equal), that gives a tuition refund of up to P5,000.

Students who fail to qualify for either Ahecs or Equal could get P2,000 in aid each under yet another program, the Emergency Financial Assistance for Students in Tertiary Education (Efast).

Salceda said at least 27,000 students graduate from high school in the province every year.

The governor said Albay is the only province in the country with its own education department and it “now has the single largest college scholarship program in the history of the Philippines.”

On the health side, at least 172,000 families in Albay stand to benefit from a new policy in which the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) would shoulder 70 percent of members’ hospital bills.

President Aquino announced the new policy at a speech before new doctors of the Philippine General Hospital. PhilHealth previously paid for only 34 percent of hospital bills of its members.