Scholarships for kids of fallen cops pushed

The vice chairman of the House Committee on Local Government is pushing for the passage of a bill seeking to grant full scholarships to children of police officers who were killed in the line of duty.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said educational benefits should be given to surviving children of slain officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“Recent developments in our country bring to our attention the noble, yet dangerous task of protecting national safety and internal security,” he said.

Villafuerte has filed House Bill 6058 which seeks to shoulder not only the cost of tuition and miscellaneous fees of police officers’ orphaned children, but also grant reasonable allowances for books, school supplies, transportation, clothing, as well as food until their completion of tertiary education.

“This bill deems it necessary to prioritize the educational grant to the orphaned children of our fallen police forces in consideration of the increasing cost of education in the Philippines. Additionally, it recognizes education’s incomparable rate of return to the individual and the nation as a whole,” the House leader said.

A counterpart bill in the Senate has been filed by Senator Grace Poe.

In filing HB 6058, Villafuerte, also the vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, proposed “the PNP Educational Benefits Trust Fund shall receive an allocation in the Annual Appropriations, on top of various other sources.”

He explained that under Republic Act No. 6963, surviving children of police officers killed in the line of duty receive educational grants through the PNP Educational Benefits Trust Fund, which is dependent on the proceeds from the license fees for firearms collected by the PNP.

HB 6058 tasks the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to administer the PNP Educational Benefits Trust Fund.