Ched Commissioner Prospero de Vera III at a Palace briefing on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 (Photo by KING RODRIGUEZ / Malacañang)
Students from public and private colleges and universities in areas hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda will receive each a P5,000 “one-time” cash assistance, the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) said on Tuesday.
“We also signed the implementing rules and regulations to provide an additional P5,000 financial assistance will be given to students enrolled in Yolanda-affected areas,” Ched Commissioner Prospero de Vera III said in a Palace briefing.
De Vera said the financial assistance was “long ovedue” since Yolanda devastated the Visayas in November 2013.
“It’s a one-time cash assistance long overdue because this is Yolanda-related,” he said. “But we’re making sure we are able to expedite the release. So this are funds coming from the 2016 Yolanda fund. There is no Yolanda fund in the 2017 General Appropriations Act.”
The Ched official said the funds would be taken from the P540 million residual money from Yolanda funds.
“The Office of the President instructed Ched to expedite the use of this money,” he said. “We are sending notices to all the public and private universities in Yolanda-affected areas that the money will be available to them.”
He said qualified students would start to receive the financial grant this June after their respective educational institutions verify their qualification.
“The students will apply in the school because the school has the records. And the school will be able to check if they are students from Yolanda-affected areas,” he said. “And the cash assistance will be given by the school to the student.”
“So this will be disbursed by the universities to students as financial assistance starting this month, as soon as the necessary paperwork is done with the state universities and colleges,” he added. /atm