Recto seeks aid for students in typhoon-affected areas

MANILA, Philippines – The government should address not only the needs of farmers and other residents in areas affected by typhoons, but also those of students, Sen. Ralph Recto said yesterday.

Recto lamented that students are often neglected when it comes to disaster response and relief activities.

“What’s lacking in the menu is the important lifeline that must be given to enrolled students whose families have been bankrupted by calamities,” he said.

“There should be a system wherein students whose homes and farms have been destroyed by a typhoon can seek tuition deferment, discount or even write off and other in-campus help…like a freeze in dormitory payments,” he added.

Recto said affected students could end up as dropouts if their needs are not addressed.

While the “big departments” have quick reaction funds to spend in the aftermath of calamities, Recto said that there is none for students in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Recto said the soon-to-be created seven-person Board of the UniFAST or the Unified Student Financial System for Tertiary Education under the newly enacted Republic Act 10687 should be able to address the gap.

Recto said the UniFAST board should implement the law’s goal of harmonizing, expanding and improving all components of the government’s student financial assistance program or StuFAP.

There are three modalities of StuFAP under RA 10687: scholarship, grant-in-aid and student loan.

Recto said government tuition assistance and scholarship grants in all levels, including basic education for 2016, would reach almost P34 billion.

The amount does not include scholarships granted by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, police and military academies, colleges run by local governments, SUCs and medical scholarships managed by the Department of Health.

Recto said the government would spend P850 million for 3,201 scholars taking up masteral and doctoral degrees in science, engineering and mathematics.

Another P1.33 billion has been allocated for the tuition, monthly stipend and other allowances of 16,557 students enrolled in science-related undergraduate courses.

Recto said the 114 SUCs would receive P46 billion subsidy in 2016. This will be augmented by its internally generated income, mostly tuition, which last year reached P18 billion. 

‘Pay nurses their due’

Former senator Richard “Dick” Gordon has vowed to ensure that government nurses receive the higher compensation due them mandated by a law passed 13 years ago.

Gordon said he will personally examine and if need be amend the 2017 budget for the Department of Health in the Senate halls to ensure the law is properly implemented

Gordon made the assurance earlier this week in his keynote speech at the Philippine Nurses’ Association (PNA) national convention held in Davao attended by some 1,000 PNA officials and nurses throughout the country.

Gordon said the entry level salary for nurses working in the government remains at salary grade 11, which provides a monthly pay of P18,549 In contrast, Republic Act 9173, or the Philippine Nursing Act for 2002, mandates “the minimum base pay of nurses working in public health institutions should not be lower than salary grade 15.”

Gordon said the law clearly calls for government institutions to pay nurses an entry level salary of P24,887.00. But because this has yet to be implemented even after 13 years, nurses in the Philippines are among the lowest-paid government workers,

Gordon said the law’s non-implementation has also caused private nurses to rank among the lowest-paid employees in the country, with some nurses hired through the so-called job order system and getting as low as P5,000 a month.