Tesda puts scholarship fund on hold

Oversubscription blamed
 
BACOLOD CITY: The truth behind the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) controversy in Bacolod was finally made clear by Tesda Regional Director Buen Mondejar who said the “hold order” for releasing scholarship vouchers was due to “oversubscription” of beneficiaries nationwide.

In an interview with The Manila Times, Mondejar said that Tesda was given an allocation of P5.6 billion for the Pangulong Gloria Scholarships because they were ordered to “frontload” the amount at the start of the year, “but by June, we realized Tesda already oversubscribed.”

The oversubscription put on hold the scholarships intended for June “until we can reassess how much is left for distribution.”

Mondejar said Tesda’s scholarship program has helped thousands of Filipinos nationwide and the agency is hoping President Gloria Arroyo will announce an additional allocation in her coming State of the Nation Address so “we can meet our commitments.”

The controversy in Bacolod stemmed from a public outcry among 500 beneficiaries who were put on hold allegedly because of Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella’s interference.

He said he was aware that Presidential Deputy Spokesperson, Undersecretary Anthony Golez, approached Tesda Secretary Boboy Syjuco during the first quarter of this year to ask for scholarship vouchers for Bacolod constituents.

“Secretary Syjuco agreed to this request and in fact ordered the local office to work on the qualification map which was approved. The vouchers were then released to us at the regional office for distribution until a “hold-order” was received from the central office pending the re-computation and reassessment,” Mondejar added.

The hold order included special commitments including the one requested by Golez, according to Mondejar, but stressed that the “incident was not special for Bacolod as it was a nationwide hold order.”

He added that Tesda has been very active in Negros Occidental and has actually an allocation for 3,386 students with another 2,867 spillover, a considerable number of the total allocation of 11,000 for Western Visayas.

Moreover, Mondejar said the over-subscription was also caused by the added Training Support Cost which provides scholars a P60 allowance per day and higher for overseas Filipino workers who gets one-half of the existing minimum wage allowance for everyday of training.

He said, out of the original 500 scholarships promised to Golez, 125 were already enroled but because of the controversy, Syjuco made sure to “honor our commitment” and took funds “from computed savings in other regions for the Bacolod scholars.”

So as not to muddle the issue anymore, Tesda decided to give the vouchers directly to the local governments and also lauded Mayor Evelio Leonardia of Bacolod’s promise to give to the agency P1 million to continue the program.

Mondejar also said they have a special heart for Negros Occi­dental “because all of your congressmen here are very supportive of our programs.”

As part of the I-CARE program which provides a peso-to-peso counterpart for funds coming from the lawmakers, Mondejar said Negros Occidental Representatives Jeffrey Ferrer, Jose Carlos Lacson, Ignacio Arroyo, Lim-ao Alvarez, Alfredo Maranon 3rd and Rep. Monico Puentevella of Bacolod have given a considerable amount to Tesda with the latter giving P2.4 million last year and “still has to receive his allocation for this year.”

Rep. Jules Ledesma of 1st District on the other hand provided P1.5 million for the creation of the Tesda Training Center in Don Salvador Benedicto.

There are so many scholarships that were put on hold, Mondejar said, and in Talisay City alone, there are 1,500 applicants for a welding course that have not also been accommodated.

Mondejar said there is nothing Tesda can do for now but “we are optimistic the President will see the merit of the program and give us additional funds.” –Manila Times