By TotengTanglao
ITOGON, Benguet -- Philex Mining
Corp. has granted scholarships to 20 students belonging to the 42 households in
two barangays here and pursuing various college degrees in different schools.
Dubbed College Educational
Assistance (CEA) Program, the scholarship covers full tuition, a book allowance
of P2,500 per semester, a monthly stipend of P1,500 from when the student is
enrolled, and an incentive of P5,000 for a student who graduates.
In an agreement between Philex
Mining and each of the students and their parents signed on July 14, the
company said the CEA is in line with its “desire to promote the mining industry
and its commitment to help in the development of host- and neighboring
communities.”
“What a great help for me and my
family,” said Rose Jane Lachica, a first-year student at King’s College of the
Philippines, in the Benguet capital of La Trinidad, whose father’s livelihood
is fishing and gold panning. Without this scholarship, she stressed, it would
be difficult for her to finish her studies, considering that her two other
siblings are also in school.
Libby Ricafort, vice president at
Philex Mining and resident manager of Padcal Operations, said the scholars are
either children or siblings of couples who are part of the 42 households found
in Sitios Pangbasan, Pao, and Ambalanga, all in Brgy. Dalupirip, as well as in
sub-Sitios of Kanagjan and Terong, both in Brgy.Ampucao.
These sitios were affected by the
tailings-leak accident last Aug. 1, when Padcal’s Tailings Storage Facility No.
3 discharged nontoxic water and sediment into Balog Creek and its convergence
area with Agno River, following historically unprecedented rains brought about
by two successive typhoons.
Philex Mining had provided
immediate remediation measures for the affected families, such as food and
compensation for lost incomes as well as payment for the tools they used
intheir livelihood.
Ricafort said the scholars have
accomplished the requirements imposed by Philex Mining, such as having a
minimum GPA, or grade point average, of 80 percent. These students are in
different years in their studies in various schools in Baguio City and Benguet,
and pursuing varied college degrees—from accounting management to education and
forestry to environmental science, among other courses.
He said the CEA has been created
through Philex Mining’s Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), which
accounts for 75 percent of the 2013 Annual SDMP (ASDMP) amounting to P65.79
million, or P74.04 million including the P8.25 million carried over from 2012.
Fifteen percent of the ASDMP
budget goes to Padcal Operations’ Information and Education Campaign while10
percent is for the Development of Mining Technology and Geosciences
(DMTG),which involves research on how to further develop the mining industry.
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