Kids of decommissioned MILF combatants get help

DAVAO CITY—The provincial governments of Maguindanao and North Cotabato have offered scholarships to qualified and deserving children of the 145 combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who were decommissioned on June 16.

Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said those availing themselves of the offer would be granted full college scholarships in their schools of choice under the provincial government’s Maguindanao Program on Education Assistance and Community Empowerment (MagPEACE).

“We shall reach out to them to determine if they have children who are to graduate from high school in March or in April 2016,” Mangudadatu said, adding that the offer was for the next school year.

The five-year-old MagPEACE, which has been institutionalized to ensure continuity, has about 6,000 scholars.

Unlike other scholarship programs, he said, the one offered by the provincial government was not a dole.

“Those availing themselves of it will have to pay it back when they find jobs after graduating so that funds will still be available for future scholars,” he said.

“I want this to become a long-running program because educating our youth will become our passport to progress,” he said.

Mangudadatu said only by education could progress be achieved.

“The disgruntled youth among impoverished village families beset by poor access to education compounded by conflicts are very susceptible to recruitment by armed groups for rebellion and other nefarious activities,” he told reporters.

Last year, about 4,400 Christian, Muslim and “lumad” students availed themselves of the program, which granted P3,000 in monthly stipend.

“We are even ready to help send them to the nearest school of the Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) so that they can study vocational courses needed to hasten their assimilation into the mainstream and to enable them to earn extra income to sustain their families,” Mangudadatu said.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, on the other hand, said children of decommissioned combatants and those interested in pursuing their college studies could also avail themselves of the provincial government’s scholarship program.

Mendoza said she took pride in the scholarship program, dubbed “Study Now, Pay Never,” because “they do not have to pay us back with cash. They just have to render service for about two months,” she said.

This year, 23 of the scholars graduated magna cum laude and cum laude.

“Their excellent performances proved that we are not only helping our youth become educated but we are helping them excel in their chosen courses,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the provincial government was funding 1,179 scholars each year.

Under the North Cotabato scholarship program, poor and deserving students get equal access to educational opportunities, she said.

She said that to ensure that only those deserving would get assistance, prospective scholars should submit an application letter and other documents and pass a prescreening process. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao