ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat (PIA) – At least 4,000 students in Sultan Kudarat were chosen to become beneficiaries of the Integrated Scholarships and Incentives Program (ISIP) for the youth.

The Office of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez launched the ISIP, a financial aid program for high school students, the Alternative Learning System, tertiary institutions, and vocational education.

“Ang ISIP ay programang naglalayong tulungan ang mga kabataang nagnanais makapagtapos sa kabila ng kakapusang-pinansyal. Binuo po natin ang programang ito sa paniniwala ng inyong lingkod na ang kahirapan ay hindi dapat maging hadlang para ang isang tao ay magkaroon ng magandang kinabukasan,” said Romualdez during the distribution of scholarship assistance at the Notre Dame of Isulan, a separate event of the Bagong Pilipinas Serbisyo Fair (BPSF) on Feb. 25 in Sultan Kudarat.

[ISIP aims to help young people who want to graduate despite their financial insufficiencies. We have developed this program in the belief that poverty should not be an obstacle for a person to have a good future.]

The beneficiaries were enrolled in the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) Tulong Dunong scholarship program with a P15,000 annual grant until they graduated from school.

Each of them also received P3,000 pesos and an additional P1,000 pesos in cash grants for their parents under the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations.

“Bahagi pa rin ito ng pagsasabuhay natin ng panawagan ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. na tulungan ang ating mamamayan at ipaabot ang ayuda lalo na sa mga sektor na nangangailangan nito. With ISIP, we hope to provide aid to sectors that can contribute to nation-building in their own capacities,” Romualdez added.

[This is still part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s call to help our people and extend aid, especially to those sectors that need it.]

The program also extended support to the students’ parents or guardians through emergency short-term employment under the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) flagship Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.

The ISIP implementation is made possible with the convergence assistance of DSWD, DOLE, CHED, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which provide the necessary intervention to address pressing issues of educational accessibility, especially for indigent students.

Meanwhile, Ferdie Dulansay, a second-year student at Sultan Kudarat State University, highlighted the impact of the ISIP initiative, especially for poor students like him.

"Twenty-one years old na po ako, pero ngayon lang po ako nakatanggap ng scholarship galing sa gobyerno kaya nagpapasalamat po ako kay Speaker Martin Romualdez," he said during the turnover of assistance.

[I am twenty-one years old, but I just received a scholarship from the government, so I thank Speaker Martin Romualdez for this opportunity.]

Aside from ISIP educational assistance, 62 students also received P25,000 each under the CHED’s Student Monetary Assistance for Recovery and Transition (SMART) scholarship program during the Serbisyo Fair.

"Importante gid ang scholarship kay makabulig sa amon nga mga estudyante kag sa amon nga mga ginikanan nga mapaeskwela kami," said SMART scholarship beneficiary Gleacy Dan Gulmatico. 

[For me, the government’s scholarship program is very important because it does not only help our students but also their parents with the school expenses of their children.]

The country’s biggest two-day BPSF-Sultan Kudarat leg ended on Feb. 26 with over 300,000 constituents of the province served by at least 55 government agencies participating in the event. (ORVR - PIA Sultan Kudarat)