ACT scholarships, families still hanging
Worried parents of city scholars who study in the Asian College of Technology (ACT) went to City Hall yesterday to plead for a resolution of the limbo caused by City Hall’s non-payment of stipends to the school.
In a meeting with city officials, they appealed to let their children finish their college studiesin ACT.
They also asked if they need to transfer their children to other accredited schools. About 140 scholars were present in the dialog.
“Ang amo lang, makapadayon ang among anak sa ACT hangtud mo-graduate. Lisod naman gud kung i-transfer pa sila kay basin dili ma-credit ang mga subjects nila,” said Carmen Lahoylahoy, one of 21 parents at the meeting. (We are hoping they can still enroll in ACT. It’s difficult to transfer them becasue some subjects they took may not be credited.)
Lahoylahoy’s son is an incoming third year IT student. About 140 scholars were also present.
Mayor Michael Rama said the city is willing to pay the school and that he shouldn’t be blamed for the current situation.
The city did not renew its memorandum of agreement with ACT after it expired in December.
City officials are wary of paying the school again after the Ombudsman found Cebu City Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa guilty of conflict of interest when he was still owner of the school and signed the MOA in his capacity as a Cebu city councilor.
This means the city will not extend scholarship vouchers for incoming first year students in June.
But it assured that those who will be second year and higher years should be allowed to finish the year.
ACT scholars who graduated last March are also worried about the non-release of their Transcript of Records (TOR) as a result of the city’s non-payment of P135 million.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo, who joined the dialog, said that in one of their meetings with ACT lawyers, the school said it is considering the possibility of discontinuing the scholarship program.
“But that’s the worst case scenario. There is still a possibility that they will also continue and if that’s the case, the students don’t have to be transferred,” Carillo told the scholars.
City attorney Jerone Castillo said the city is preparing to file a case in court “to allow the city to deposit payment in court”
until the controversy is settled. Also present in the dialog was scholarship committee head Ida Yting.
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