Indigenous peoples in Pangasinan given college scholarships

• Source: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/411433735954/indigenous-peoples-in-pangasinan-given-college-scholarships
• Thursday, June 11, 2015

By Venus May H. Sarmiento (MCA/VHS/PIA-1/Pangasinan)

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, June 11 (PIA) – For years now, students belonging to the Indigenous people have been enjoying college life. Thanks to the scholarship assistance program of the provincial government.

Dr. Enrique Delos Santos, Jr. provincial officer of the National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP), was grateful for the annual inclusion of IPs in the scholarship slots.

“Every year, the IPS are given eight slots for the scholarship assistance, but over the years, the government has assisted more than 30 IPs in pursuing their studies,” Delos Santos told the Philippine Information Agency.

Each scholar receives P8,000 per semester and can enroll in a school of his choice located even outside of Pangasinan.

Delos Santos’ team at NCIP informs and screens the applicants for scholarship and the province gives them the leeway to decide whom to give the slots allotted.

“The applicants come from geographically isolated depressed areas (GIDA) and one of the settlements of IPs which has a big population is in the municipality of Sison,” Delos Santos said.

But even in Sison town, IPs still live in mountainous areas because it is, perhaps, in their nature to live in far-flung sites, he added.

Delos Santos said many IP scholars are now successful in their fields like their new lawyer. The commission’s legal officer is a product of Pangasinan’s scholarship program, he said.

The IPs are part of this year’s 1,249 scholars of the Pangasinan government and have received their assistance from Gov. Amado Espino, Jr. in an awarding ceremony held in Lingayen town on Friday.