City Council OKs P56M settlement deal with ACTIEF

THE Cebu City government will enter into a P56-million settlement agreement with the Asian College of Technology International Education Foundation (ACTIEF).

This developed after the City Council approved a resolution authorizing Mayor Tomas Osmeña to enter into a compromise agreement with ACTIEF, where the city would pay P56 million for the tuition of the 3,200 Cebu City scholars for the first and second semesters of the academic year 2014–2015.

With the resolution approved during Tuesday’s session, the Cebu City government and the ACTIEF administration are set to file a joint motion before the court for the approval of the compromise agreement.

Thirty days after the filing of the joint motion, the city would be obliged to pay ACTIEF the settlement amount, with the assurance that the school would release the Transcripts of Records (TORs) of the city’s scholars who already graduated.

Around 75 percent or 2,400 scholars out of the 3,200 enrolled in ACTIEF have already graduated but were unable to claim their TORs due to the city’s outstanding balance on their tuition accounts.

Councilor Joy Augustus Young, in an earlier interview, cited the importance of fast-tracking the settlement between the city and ACTIEF to help the graduates find jobs since their TORs, which was then withheld, would be then be released to them.