A MOTHER had complained why her son was deleted from the roster of beneficiaries under the educational assistance of the Zamboanga Sibugay Provincial Government while another mother was happy.
Rosemarie, a mother of three in Caparan, Ipil town, wondered why his son's name was deleted from the list.
"Natingala lang ko ngano (I just wondered why)?" she said.
She said a barangay official told her to see the one who is in-charge of the list, but she no longer asked.
Rosemarie, whose husband is a farmer, said it was "strange that they no longer include my son as scholar." But she prefers to keep her silence.
Could it be politics? She said it is not likely, because "we voted for the governor last elections," referring to Governor Wilter Palma.
Another mother, meanwhile, is happy that her child is included in the list.
"This is the second year my son is among the identified scholars of the governor," said Gemma in the dialect.
Palma has implemented an educational assistance program for students in the province who belong to the poorest of the poor.
The poorest of the poor are also beneficiaries of the government's conditional cash transfer program, more popularly known as Programang Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino.
This school year, a source from the governor's office who refused to be named because he has no clearance to speak said that some 55,000 students throughout the province have been identified as the first batch of beneficiaries.
Each student will receive P500. For the first batch, it will cost the province some P30 million to implement it.
The identification of the beneficiaries will be done by the head of a public school in every barangay in coordination with village officials.
"The responsibility to identify the beneficiaries lies in every school head and barangay officials," the source said, adding that the governor's office has nothing to do with the "inclusion or exclusion of some names in the list."
"Rest assured, the educational program is free from politics because the governor has no intention to make it (politicized)," he added.
He promised, however, to bring the issue to Palma's attention, so that "necessary steps will be done if ever there are abuses committed in implementing the program." (VoxPop Philippines)