TACLOBAN CITY — A proposed law granting full government support to top senior high school graduates moved closer to plenary approval after the House Committee on Appropriations endorsed the measure on Feb. 17.
The panel, chaired by Rep. Mikaela Suansing, approved the substitute bill institutionalizing the Presidential Merit Scholarship Program (PMSP), a priority measure under the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council backed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The consolidated measure includes House Bill No. 5763 principally authored by Leyte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and co-authored by Tingog party-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez, Andrew Julian Romualdez, and Jude Acidre.
The bill was sponsored before the appropriations panel by Acidre, who chairs the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education.
Once enacted, the program will be formally lodged under CHED and provide scholars with free tuition and school fees, book and internet allowances, uniform support, dormitory or transportation assistance, and other living subsidies.
The grant was increased during deliberations to P90,000 annually for students in private higher education institutions and P45,000 for those in public institutions.
Lawmakers said institutionalizing the program will ensure stable funding and continuity, while preventing duplication of benefits with other government scholarships.
With its appropriations provisions approved, the bill now moves to plenary deliberations.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
