CONGRATULATIONS. This afternoon of May 23, 5:30 p.m. at Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center, 18 Iloilo City government officials and employees will be conferred the title Master in Public Management (MPM), after completing the course under the tutelage of the Ateneo Graduate School in classes on weekends (Saturdays) and after office hours.

A few others, we were told, failed to make it to this graduation rite. Probably because they failed to faithfully attend classes and were thus dropped out, or were unable to submit their theses within the required period of time, or withdrew as early as the first days of classes on a change of heart at the last hour.

These 18, by alphabetical order, are as follows: Marly Espinosa Bayoneta, Francis T. Cruz, Armand S. Dicen, Councilor Ely A. Estante Jr., Consuelo Rico Geduspan, Rhodora Malones, Wennifredo Z. Lagura, Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, Joie Pijuan Magbanua, Councilor Armand Parcon, Neil G. Ravena, Barnard M. Rendaje, Catalina Ranches, Ma. Millie Bolivar Tan, Joy Ann Torre Toledo, Brummel John D. Vargas, Salome Pisueña and Virgie Gemal Villanueva. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU!

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For just the 18 of them, the Iloilo City government paid, or will still pay, a total of P1.8 million at P100,000 each.

Meantime, thousands of the children of the poor in the city may not enter college this year, either because of the high tuition and other school fees in private educational institutions, or because of the high academic requirements for scholarship grants, as well as for admission in state colleges and universities.

But should we be less caring for their need to get higher education to be able to compete for better jobs or successfully run their own businesses later and thereby able to help improve the stations in life of their families?

I think government should even be more concerned that these children of the poor may be given the opportunity to finish college courses, especially because of the “equal opportunity” clause in our Constitution.

But, “How may we accommodate these college ‘outcasts’ composed of the bulk of high school graduates?”, some of you might ask.

A broader college education may be made possible with a subsidized community college, or a city public college in the case of Iloilo City, as presently proposed by Councilor Jeffrey Ganzon.

Again, some of you might ask: Do we really need this city public college now? Yes, undoubtedly.

A recent survey with 423 high school students at the Iloilo City Schools Division by Eagle Cross Research, led by Dr. Rogelio M. Borro, shows that a city public college in Iloilo City is, indeed, urgently needed.

In the sample survey, 37.35% of the respondents said they might not pursue college education anymore because of the “high cost of tuition and miscellaneous fees.”

However, we could expect more of them to miss enrolment this year, with 60.76% pointing to the poverty of their parents as a big “hindering factor.”

Of the 423 respondents, 74% said the combined incomes of their parents are below P10,000. How then could we expect these families, except for the few who may find support from relatives and kindhearted people, to be able to send their children to college with such a meager income, which is far below the poverty threshold some authorities, themselves, would place at over P20,000?

There’s hope for them, though. In the same survey, 92.90% said they would enrol in a public community college if there is one, because of its low tuition and other school fees.

The respondent students showed preference for Hotels and Restaurant Courses – HRM, food tech, etc. (31.91%), Health Related Courses - nursing, midwifery, med tech, etc. (22.46%), and Information Technology - BSIT, BSIM and BSCS (20.33%).

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