THE Baguio City Council on Monday, May 15, has approved on third and final reading a proposed ordinance seeking to amend the city’s Ordinance No. 116, series of 2019 which provides for the city government’s college education financial assistance grant program to students.
Authored by Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, the ordinance would see the current financial assistance to “poor and deserving” college students increased by some 67 percent per semester.
The amended ordinance would see the available financial assistance for resident college students that are enrolled in schools in the city from P6,000 a semester to P10,000, provided they are passing all their subjects.
The ordinance also provides the same financial assistance for students in equivalent technical or vocational programs with the same guidelines.
Olowan’s ordinance stipulates that the current budget for financial assistance be tripled from P10 million to P30 million in total in the 2023 executive budget, with provisions to increase the budget by P5 million each year upon approval of the city council to cater to projected increases in assistance beneficiaries.
While the ordinance is now awaiting the mayor’s signature, Baguio’s Committee on Education, Culture and Historical Research has been given a deadline of two months from its approval to finalize the guidelines for the ordinance for ease of access before the ordinance is signed into law.
