So after 5 months in school, without the grant from my scholarship, I painstakingly found a way to contact the national office which referred me to the regional office from where I supposedly belong. Apparently, the rest of the scholars had their stipends already last January/February. When I politely inquired, someone responded telling me that this is what I get after trying to outsmart the government agency and thus get two sets of stipend, one from the national office, and another from the regional office. Its your fault for being too greedy was the gist of the conversation. I did not know what was happening, why there are accusations thrown at me when i have not even received a single peso from my scholarship this semester when I need it most after the fortuitous event last November 8. With the limited time I had, I explained in detail the timeline of the truth, as per my per experience. Nov 20, i checked the Regional Office VIII for updates but the office was not operational yet. November 21, I arrived in UP diliman and cross-enrolled. First week of december, we coordinated with Diliman DOST people and wrote appeals to the DOST-SEI director to continue our scholarship since we are still under the continuing status of said scholarship, just that we are not in UPTac for this sem. 2nd week of December, a response from the OIC of DOST-SEI in the form of an official letter stated that yes, we are assured of our academic scholarship even if we relocated for this sem. And that they will make sure that it comes in time for us to use it for this semester as well. 5 months after, still no stipend for me. I learned from the other scholars that they already had their allowances. Some freshies had double stipend because National office released their stipend, and so did Regional office. In my case though, not even the stipend for one month is present. Now, the person who responded to my inquiry have the nerve to tell me that it is my fault? After the failure of the national office and the regional office to be efficient in coordinating with themselves and eliminate redundancies in the budget release, but more importantly to ensure that the academic scholarship, the four-year contract is not breached for as long as the student complies with the grade requirement in the signed contract? They are mad because they have to cancel paperworks and all those things but that person never really thought of the fact that the burden of fault is not even on my part because from our end, we did all that we could to inform the regional office of our whereabouts, and to the extent of establishing communication with the National office. Now they instructed me to find a way to claim my stipend in Leyte. Now I have to write another set of appeal for the stipend to be released to someone i would authorize in Leyte. Sadness reigns over me being infuriated. because in this educational system that we have where education has become a commodity instead of a right, those who struggle to emancipate themselves from the claws of oppression via obtaining a degree as one of the multi-faceted approach are all the more oppressed by the inefficiency of bureaucracy and whatnots. It pains me to know that such inefficiency in our government agencies exist, and are actually extremely detrimental to the education of those who cannot afford to send themselves to school, but their minds can do so, thus the academic scholarship. I understand that the regional office has also been put in chaos because of the typhoon, which is why we patiently waited for five months for our stipend. But such conduct of being not accommodating at all, of blaming students instead of creating a corrective mechanisms fro the lapses, is something that should be condemned. More importantly, such lapses should not be tolerated so they will not proliferate and poison the society even more. oh, and yes, , its an academic scholarship. we lose so much sleep just so we can keep up with our part in the contract. Its not like I am just a beggar in the street you have been used to shoo away so heartlessly because it is a contract, maybe you should all remind yourselves to do your end of the contract, efficiently at that. Thanks. Facebook rant because i cannot send this to them without jeopardizing the rest of the scholars. Someday, one day, a proper venue would correct this unfortunate event. I vow to that.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 04:53:02 +0000
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