MANILA, Philippines — State-run Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) launched yesterday a P500 million scholarship program to provide financial support to underprivileged college students in the country.
DBP president and chief executive officer Cecilia Borromeo said the program, named as the Resources for Inclusive and Sustainable Education (RISE), aims to support the college education of more than 2,500 scholars in the next five years.
“As one of the top government financial institutions, the DBP is being tasked to do more so that the administration’s poverty alleviation efforts will be felt by more Filipinos. The DBP RISE is one project which can make a substantial different in the lives of many of our poor countrymen,” Borromeo said.
Borromeo said the DBP RISE program is an offshoot of the P880 million DBP Endowment for Education Program, which is nearing its completion after a decade of implementation.
The program, which will run from 2018 to 2023, will have a P500 million funding—P100 million annually—sourced from a portion of the DBP’s income.
According to the DBP chief, the RISE program will cover students enrolled in priority courses, such as accountancy, engineering, education, hotel and restaurant management, and agriculture.
“The DBP would shoulder tuition fees, board and lodging expenses, living allowance, cost of apprenticeship, residency training and expenses during review of board exams,” she said.
The bank has tapped 14 partner-schools for the scholarship program, including the University of the Philippines- Los Banos, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Bulacan State University, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Mindanao State University, Mindanao State University of Science and Technology, Misamis University, Our Lady of Triumph Institute of Technology, Palawan State University, Philippine Normal University, University of Cebu, Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, West Bay College, and West Visayas University.
For the first tranche of the program, the DBP will support 360 scholars for academic year 2018 and 2019.
To be eligible for scholarship, students should have an annual family income not exceeding P150,000, belong to the upper 20 percent of their high school’s graduating class, and pass the admission requirements of their preferred partner-school.
Meanwhile, the DBP also extended a P6.4 million financial assistance to the Palawan provincial government, the municipality of Taytay, Palawan, and the Taytay Municipal Farmers Federation for the DBP Forest Project.
This project aims to support reforestation of the catchment areas of Lake Manguao in Taytay, Palawan.
“This program should help protect Lake Manguao, the largest freshwater lake in Palawan, through the planting of high-value tree species like apitong, mahogany, ipil, and narra, as well as endemic and native species of forest trees. It will also promote a habitat conducive to wildlife, including species endemic to Palawan,” Borromeo said.