For children of farmers, fishermen

For children of farmers, fishermen

LOVE AGRI, FISHERIES, VETMED?
ENJOY COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
By Manny Piñol

When we were young boys, we would always tease those among us who had crushes but never had the courage to tell the girls what they felt.

We sang our version of "Fly Me to the Moon" which went this way: "Fly me to the moon, nakatapad wa kaingon." (He was so close but never said a word.)

That line holds true for so many beautiful government programs which people still do not know until today because these were never publicly announced.

In fact, it was only when I became Secretary of Agriculture when I learned that the government offers college scholarships, complete with stipends, for bright boys and girls who would like to take up courses in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, veterinary medicine or animal science.

This scholarship program which could be availed of in government colleges and universities all over the country is funded by the ACEF or Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund.

The ACEF comes from the collections of duties and levies on all imported agriculture items and was originally intended to be loaned out to farmers and fisher folk who are affected by the importation of the same product.


It was supposed to prepare these sectors for the eventual lifting of trade restrictions on agricultural commodities.

The ACEF included a scholarship program for the children of poor farmers and fisher folk who would like to take up agriculture, fisheries, forestry and animal science courses, including veterinary medicine.

The ACEF, however, became a milking cow for corrupt officials and almost the entire over P8-B in loans given to individuals amounting to as much as P50-M each was not paid. Worse, there was even no serious effort to disseminate information regarding the scholarships.

I'm thankful Sen. Cynthia Villar, former chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture of the Senate, worked for the extension of the ACEF but reduced the ceiling for lending’s to only P5-M. Along with the extension, of course, is the assurance that children of poor farmers and fishermen could go to college for free.

So, if you have children who are bright and interested to go to college as ACEF scholars, please visit the nearest government college or university near you.

See the school president or the registrar and tell them that I instructed you to inquirer about the ACEF scholarship grant.

There are, of course, requirements and scholarship standards which must be complied with and met but if your children are determined to go to college, they could easily do it.

In the DA, the official in-charge of the ACEF scholarship program is Undersecretary Ranibai Dilangalen. You could also visit her in the DA Central Office in Quezon City.

By the way, here is the link to the official Dept. of Agriculture webpage where you could actually get more information. www.da.gov.ph