EO issued for more med, law scholars

Mayor Sara Z. Duterte has issued executive order No. 11 to further strengthen the educational assistance program of the City Government of Davao and to accommodate more students who wanted to study medicine and law.

“There is a need to expand and broaden the coverage of the Medical and Law Assistance Program to include not only those from members of the indigenous peoples of Davao City but also those who may want to avail themselves of financial assistance,” said Mayor Sara.

She added that in doing so, more qualified but underprivileged Davaoeños will be given the medical and law education they deserve.”

Signed on April 3, Executive Order No. 11 or is an order repealing item 20 of Section 2 on “General Qualifications,” and amending Item 24 of Section 2 and 4 on “Scholarship Benefits for Medical and Law Educational Assistance Program” of Executive Order No. 7, Series of 2014 otherwise known as an “Order strengthening the educational assistance program of the City Government of Davao.”

The order revokes the Item 20 of Section 2 on “General Qualifications” stated in EO No. 7 of 2014, under “Additional Qualifications for Medical and Law Educational Assistance Program” which states that to qualify for the Educational Assistance Program, one must belong to an indigenous tribe of Davao City as certified by the Deputy Mayor and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of Office of the Muslim Affairs.

Furthermore, EO 11 of 2017 stated that in order to qualify for medical and law school assistance, one must have been accepted by the Committee on Admission and/or Enrolment (or the equivalent committee) into the college or schools offering medicine and law within Davao City.

Also, considering the increase in tuition the amount of tuition and matriculation fees, the EO stated the increase of the amount to be granted for the grantees.

“For Medical Educational Assistance: The grantee shall be entitled to a full scholarship consisting of tuition fees, miscellaneous fees, other fees that may be assessed by the medical school, and book allowance amounting to Php 20,000.00 per semester. For Law School Educational Assistance, the same shall be granted to the grantee with a book allowance amounting to Php 8,000.00 per semester,” EO 11 further states.

Executive Order 11 will take effect immediately and will be made available starting school year 2017-2018.