Taguig raises scholarship fund anew by P100M

MANILA, Philippines — The city government of Taguig has increased its scholarship fund by P100 million this year.

The Taguig City Hall on Tuesday said the fund for the LANI scholarship program, which has been supporting students seeking post-secondary education, including technical-vocational, college, master’s or doctoral degree courses, has been raised to P600 million, up from the P500 million allotted in 2015.

The program was launched in 2011 with a P100-million budget, from only P5 million allotted by the previous administration, it noted.

The 2011 seed money came from the previous administration’s budget for garbage collection, which was slashed when Mayor Lani Cayetano took over. The program fund has since been increased by P100 million each year.

“By now we are absolutely sure we have invested the city’s hard-earned funds in developing its most precious resource: our children,” Cayetano said in a statement.

She thanked members of the city council for having “affixed their stamp of approval to the program not only by voting to continue the scholarship grant but increasing it again by P100 million.”

“Most of all, we thank the Taguig taxpayers for making this fund even possible,” she added.

As of November 2015, the program has benefited over 30,000 scholars.  SFM