“One of my proposals, increase tayo to 7,000 diay 5,000 nga scholarship allowance ti students” - Kalinga BM Kitongan

Tabuk City, Kalinga - In a recent interview, Board Member Emilio Kitongan said his committee started looking into the possibility of increasing the scholarship allowance of beneficiary students of the Kalinga PLGU scholarship program from P5,000 to P7,000 to provide adequate support and to lessen the burden that comes from inflation and additional school fees.

Kitongan, the Chairman of the Committee on Education, explained that in order to do this, provisions of the Provincial Ordinance No. 2023-018 ( Revising P.O. No. 2019-022 - institutionalizing scholarship/ educational assistance program in the Province of Kalinga for the poor but deserving college, senior high school, and technical/vocational students, and providing funds thereof, have to be amended.

On July 8, 2025, the Committee on Education held its first hearing on said amendment proposal, in which section 3. D, Section 4.F, and Section 5.A of the ordinance were suggested to be revised.

Section 3 discusses the qualifications, Section 4 on documentary requirements, and Section 5 on the amount of assistance.

Section 3.D states that an applicant must belong to an indigent group of families/individuals as certified by the Provincial Social Welfare Development Officer (PSWDO). Similarly, in Section 4.F on documentary requirements, it states that the applicant must submit a certificate of indigency from the PSWDO. Kitongan said that the indigency certification from the barangay officials should be enough.

As stated in Section 5.A, every college grantee shall receive P5,000 per semester to cover tuition fees, matriculation fees, or subsistence allowances. The provincial legislator wants to increase this amount by P2,000, or by 40 percent, to address the current needs of scholars.

“One of my proposals tapno ma-cover na diay current needs ti scholars tayo, increase tayo to P7,000 diay P5,000 nga current scholarship allowance ti students. The ordinance in 2019 was revised in 2023. Masapul met laeng ti ammendments tatta tapno masupusupan diay burden ti students tayo due to inflation ken additional school fees,” said Kitongan.

BM Kitongan is confident that if his proposal, after its careful study, is supported by other provincial legislators, it will greatly help deserving college students in the province to finish their schooling.