by DUCKY PAREDES
Published on Monday, 29 April 2013 00:00
‘Ninoy believed that, as a citizen, he could not be barred from coming home. Apparently, Joes Ampeso agreed with Ninoy. You know the rest of the story.’
ONE heartily agrees with House Deputy Majority Leader Roman Romulo that others should follow the lead of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). The DBP has set aside a P2-billion special loan program for high school graduates who wish to obtain a college education.
“We laud the DBP’s ground-breaking program, which will surely enable a greater number of high school graduates to acquire a bachelor’s degree. Other banks should replicate the lending facility,” says Romulo.
Our country, more than others, needs this program. Do you know that three out of every 10 high school graduates do not proceed to college, largely owing to lack of funds? This is also the reason why a lot of them do not complete the regular four-year course.
Adds Romulo: “Besides DBP, we have 35 licensed universal and commercial banks. If each of them just set aside P1 billion, or one-half of what DBP has allotted, then we can easily have some P35 billion available for lending to students.”
Even if for now, we may have enough college graduates in the population, the rising cost of education could mean that the nation will have a diminishing number of college graduates in the years ahead.
Roman points out: “The cost of a college education has become increasingly prohibitive. It has been doubling every five years, with tuition soaring by roughly 15 percent annually.”
The P2-billion DBP Higher Education Loan Program for Students, or DBP HELPS, is a wholesale credit facility using qualified colleges as conduits for student loans.
Qualified schools that have tie-ups with companies or employers are eligible to borrow under DBP HELPS.
The schools and their partner-employers pre-qualify and select the students eligible to borrow money for tuition, board and lodging, books, uniforms, transportation and other expenses.
The employers shall also be contracted to provide on-the-job training, subsequent employment, and automatic payroll deductions for borrowers to repay their loans.
Romulo is author of the proposed Act Establishing a Student Assistance Program by Banks and Government Financial Institutions, which the House has already approved on third and final reading.
Under the program, an eligible student may obtain a low-cost bank loan to pay for the tuition of the college where the borrower has been accepted. The student may also use the money to finance all other schooling as well as living expenses.
The loan would have an effective interest rate pegged to the 91-day Treasury bill rate, which stood at 0.040 percent per annum as of Apr. 24.
The bank may apply an add-on 3.0 to 5.0 percent annual interest rate. But instead of the student paying for the extra interest charges, the lender may claim the corresponding amount as tax credits. The bank may then use the credits to pay or offset its tax obligations.
The borrower would pay off the loan periodically, starting two years after graduation, but not later than eight years after leaving college.
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As the PE (President-Elect ) of my Rotary Club (RC Pasig) with a term to begin on July 7, 2013, may I suggest that participant banks tap Rotary Clubs (or other similar organizations) to find the scholars and the employers who will take them in after graduation. The clubs could even, perhaps, partially match the funds that the banks are willing to lend to poor students with donations to these bank scholars for books or other expenses.
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Jose Ampeso, the Philippine consul general to Vancouver, apologizes for any offense his videotaped rant may have caused but explains that he was provoked by a Filipino-Canadian offering “to give a measly dollar” to his mission’s fund drive for typhoon victims in the Philippines.
“The video alone is not sufficient to draw any reasonable conclusions, one way or the other. Hence, it is unfair and unjust to use it to malign my character,” says Ampeso, a 30-year career diplomat.
Ampeso says that the 28-second video “does not tell the whole story” about his run-in with a Filipino who was applying to renew his passport during the Vancouver mission’s passport renewal outreach program in Alberta, Canada.
Apparently, the passport applicant “insulted me and poked fun at being requested to make a donation to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC).”
“That’s why I became so agitated while explaining to him that if he had to give anything at all, it has to come from the heart for the typhoon victims. It was purely voluntary.
“And definitely, it was not a requirement for a passport application or rendition of any other consular services, contrary to what some allege. Thus, any allegation or insinuation that we were forcing people to give is entirely untrue.”
The passport applicant, Proceso Flordeliz Jr. of Edmonton, wrote an account of his encounter with Ampeso in a Filipino online forum. He said Ampeso became angry when he offered to donate only a dollar to the fund-raiser, and threatened to disregard his passport renewal application.
Flordeliz began recording Ampeso right after that encounter.
The 28-second video clip, captioned “Rude, arrogant, drunk consul. More fun in the Philippines!,” was posted on YouTube. This brought on widespread comment resulting in the recall of Ampeso by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Ampeso denies being rude or arrogant at the event.
“Please take note that this incident took place at about 4 p.m. I was visibly tired after continuously assisting hundreds of passport applicants in the front of the line that afternoon, ending in fact until 10:30 p.m. on that day,” he says.
He also says he instructed a volunteer to help Flordeliz despite their earlier confrontation.
“Be that as it may, I apologize to anyone whom I may have offended. I assure you that I had only the best intentions in reacting in that manner,” Ampeso says.
The DFA, which seems (to me) to have it in for Joey, has recalled Ampeso to the home office to explain his behavior.
The Alberta incident is not the first Ampeso controversy. Luli Arroyo, the daughter of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, once accused Ampeso of sexual harassment when the Philippines hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in 1996.
Ampeso also denied those allegations and the administrative charges were dropped after he apologized to Luli in writing and in person.
You may wonder why I seem to be taking Joey Ampeso’s side. I really am not. Rudeness by any public servant is never forgivable.
What I know about Joey, however, is this: He was the consular officer who issued a passport to a senator who was then banned from ever returning to his country during the Martial Law years. Ampeso issued Ninoy Aquino a passport in his name as requested. The fake passport in the name of “Marcial Bonifacio,” however, was the one that the government claimed Ninoy used. It was not. In travelling home, Ninoy used the legitimate passport issued by Ampeso.
Ninoy believed that, as a citizen, he could not be barred from coming home. Apparently, Joes Ampeso agreed with Ninoy.
You know the rest of the story.
