City Hall to settle scholarship row in a month

Cebu City Hall said it wants to settle its obligation with the Asian College of Technology International Educational Foundation (ACTIEF) within this month for the sake of scholars who graduated last March 21.

“We want this resolved within this month so that by the time CHED issues the special order for the Transcipt of Records (TOR), it can be released already by the school,” said City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo.

He said they decided on the timeframe after considering the time needed for review  by the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) of the TOR of graduates before it issues a special order affirming the completion of the academic requirements for the bachelor’s degree of each graduate.

The CHED review usually takes up to three months from graduation.

One of the unresolved issues is whether the City Hall’s scholarship program is engaged with the Asian College of Technology  (ACT) or the school’s foundation.

Castillo said the city signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ACT in 2010, but since 2011 the school’s name has become ACTIEF.

With this, the city government is questioning whether ACTIEF underwent the same accreditation process as  other schools.

ACTIEF’s lawyer Edison Arriola earlier explained there was no name change in the school and that ACT and ACTIEF are two different institutions.

But Castillo insisted that documents from the city’s scholarship program committee shows that Cebu city has an MOA with ACTIEF which was still signed by south district Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa.

Another meeting with the school, City Hall lawyers and the City Council is set for April 13. City Hall is not yet releasing  P135 million payment due to ACTIEF for the past two years due to an Ombudsman ruling of conflict of interest against Abellanosa for signing on behalf of the school when he was still a city councilor.