Former scholars of the Asian College of Technology, shown here talking about the payment of their tuition with officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) in this 2015 file photo, can heave a sigh of relief after the city government assured they will settle their obligations with the school.
The Cebu City government is now evaluating all schools that were accredited under the City Scholarship Program.
City Councilor Joy Augustus Young said the previous administration’s scholarship committee failed to turn over the records they need to continue implementing the program.
“We are now checking (the) accreditation of the schools. No records were turned over. We are back to square one,” he said.
Young said some of the 20 accredited schools will be investigated since they don’t own facilities conducive for learning. He declined to identify these schools.
“Our children should not enroll there. They have a library but the books are not related to the courses they offer. Murag namalit lang sa (Looks like they just bought from a) sidewalk, and they put it there in the library,” Young said.
Young said the evaluation of these schools will be done within this month.
He said the instructors should also be accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
Small schools are welcome but the city must be assured that quality education will be given to the scholars, he said.
Young said the Asian College of Technology/ Asian International Educational Foundation (ACT/ACTIEF) is still an accredited school.
He said he has not seen any record from the school board committee which showed that the school was removed from the program.
“Their accreditation was not removed. For me, what happened then was political posturing,” he said.
Young referred to the refusal of then Cebu City mayor Michael Rama to pay the P135 million owed to students of ACTIEF as payment for their tuition due to conflict of interest.
Last October, the Ombudsman filed graft charges against Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa of Cebu City’s south district for conflict of interest.
Abellanosa was a city councilor when he signed the scholarship agreement with the city on behalf of ACTIEF where he was a trustee-president.
He also sat in the city’s scholarship committee. Abellanosa denied the charges.
The First Division of the Sandiganbayan dismissed the case filed by the Ombudsman and the city is said to be reviewing the documents for processing of the payment to the school.
Young said beneficiaries can still avail of the scholarship if they enroll at ACTIEF.
As of now, the scholars each get a P10,000 subsidy per semester.