CHED to release cash assistance for students in 'Yolanda'-affected areas

MANILA, Philippines – College students in areas hit by ‘Yolanda’ in 2013 will soon receive P5,000 cash assistance almost four years after the typhoon ravaged the Visayas, an official said Tuesday.

 

Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Prospero de Vera III said the assistance would come from P540 million in unused ‘Yolanda’ funds.

 

“We also signed the implementing rules and regulations to provide an additional P5,000 financial assistance to public and private students enrolled in Yolanda-affected areas,” de Vera said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

 

“This appropriation of about P540 million is residual money coming from Yolanda funds that were not utilized in 2016,” he added.

 

De Vera admitted that the cash assistance is long overdue.

 

“It’s a one-time cash assistance long overdue because this is Yolanda-related but we’re making sure we are able to expedite the release. So this is funds coming from the 2016 Yolanda fund. There is no Yolanda fund in the 2017 General Appropriations Act,” he said.

 

The student beneficiaries can use the one-time P5,000 assistance to pay for their miscellaneous fees or for books.

 

De Vera said the Office of the President has instructed CHED to expedite the use of the money.

 

“We are sending notices to all the public and private universities in Yolanda-affected areas that the money will be available to them,” the CHED official said.

 

De Vera said the funding would be disbursed by the universities to students as financial assistance starting this month once the necessary paper works are completed.

 

“Yolanda,” said to be one of the strongest typhoons that entered the Philippines, left more than 6,000 people dead and more than a million others displaced.