Dominguez grants scholarships to1,918 students

BY DEXTER A. SEE

BONTOC, Mountain Province — One thousand-nine-hundred-eighteen students at the Mountain Province State Polytechnic College have been granted full scholarship grants by Rep. Victor S. Dominguez through his priority development fund.

The students were granted the scholarships after they passed rigid screening process. Based on the final list transmitted by the Office of Dominguez to MPSPC president Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, Bontoc has the biggest number of scholars with 577. It was followed by Bauko with 474; Tadian – 227; Sadanga – 214; Natonin – 128; Barlig – 127; Sagada – 72; Paracelis – 29; Besao – nine; and Sabangan, six.

It was learned that there were more than 2,700 students at MPSPC who applied for the full-scholarship grant. Earlier, Dominguez made it mandatory for the students to file their letter of intent of availing themselves of the scholarship and undergo the rigid screening process.

Dominguez made available the full scholarship grants at the MPSPC for all bonafide students during school year 2005-2006 to enable poor but deserving students to acquire a decent education. A fund of P10 million -- P7 million from the Priority Development Assistance Fund of Dominguez and P3 million from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) -- is allocated annually for the full scholarship program.

Starting school year 2008-2009, Dominguez said, the full-scholarship program will be offered to all graduating high school students in the different municipalities who are interested in enrolling in MPSPC. He said that the students could immediately file their applications for the scholarship with his office even after graduation from high school.

This would enable them to undergo immediately the screening process. Under the new policy, students interested in the program must have his application-letter jointly signed by his or her parents to show their sincerity in pursuing decent education.

It was recalled that the congressman suspended the implementation of the program during the first semester of the present schoolyear after several groups filed cases against him with the Commission on Higher Education and Commission on Human Rights. The groups had raised questions over the implementation of the program. Later, thousands of students petitioned the office of Dominguez, appealing to the congressman to resume the implementation of the full scholarship program.