Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero De Vera III led the ceremonial distribution of Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) stipends to eligible students of the Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT U) on Friday, Nov. 26.

A total of 137 new student-beneficiaries from different ISAT U campuses received P20,000 each. Forty-three of them came from the Iloilo City campus, 18 from Barotac Nuevo, 31 each from Leon and Miagao, and 9 from Dumangas.

All in all, TES benefits 1,705 ISAT-U students. The beneficiaries were selected through the Listahanan 2.0 or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

TES is a grants-in-aid program that aims to provide financial support to poor students enrolled in public and private higher education institutions (HEIs). It is under Republic Act 10931, or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education law.

The distribution of financial assistance was part of the “Padyak para sa Ikaayong Lawas kag Libre nga Edukasyon: A School-based Vaccination Campaign and the Implementation of Tertiary Education Subsidy Program in Western Visayas.”

“I started this campaign last January to claim victory for free higher education. I was not vaccinated yet at that time. But I decided that it’s about time to claim victory for free higher education in January,” De Vera said in a press conference.

According to the CHED official, the first batch of student-beneficiaries has already completed their education for free.

“This is a proper proof that we can do it. In March, we were told to stop but we chose to be flexible and we have survived. We are are slowly opening free education to Filipino students,” said De Vera.

Currently, the TES program has around 1.6 million beneficiaries from more than 200 schools in the country.

“Next year, we are targeting to increase our beneficiaries to make it around 1.8 million. We are hoping that they will get vaccinated so that they can start the limited face-to-face classes,” said De Vera.IMT/ Photo by Ian Paul Cordero