CITY TO PAY P135M

SEEKING A COMPROMISE FOR 3.2K SCHOLARS

Five members of the Cebu City Council abstained, but they couldn’t keep the majority from approving a resolution that authorizes Mayor Tomas Osmeña to negotiate with a private university and settle some P135 million in unpaid students’ tuition and other fees. Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa was a member of the City Council when the City decided to send thousands of its scholars to Abellanosa’s school. The City, which stopped paying in 2014-2015 when Michael Rama was mayor, has lost its case against the school.

The Cebu City Council authorized Mayor Tomas Osmeña to negotiate and enter into a possible compromise agreement with Asian College of Technology International Education Foundation Inc. (ACTIEF) regarding the payment of P135 million the City owes the school.

It approved last Tuesday the resolution sponsored by Councilor Joy Augustus Young, authorizing Osmeña to negotiate on behalf of the City.

Councilors Jocelyn Pesquera, Philip Zafra, Joel Garganera, Eduardo Rama and Jose Daluz III, however, abstained from voting on the passage of the resolution.

Pesquera said the move is still premature and there is a need for the legal office to update the council about it.

Young said about 3,200 scholars have been enrolled in ACTIEF since 2015 and 75 percent of them failed to get credentials from the school due to the City's failure to pay its dues.

About 800 of the 3,200 city scholars are scheduled to graduate next year.

"According to the City Legal Office, to fasttrack this, instead of waiting for the case to be resolved by the court, and we know how long it takes, (it's) better if we enter into a compromise agreement. The graduates can't get a job without their credentials," Young said.

The previous administration withheld the payment, pending a petition for declaratory relief that the City filed against ACTIEF in court.

The City filed the civil petition to determine if the law would allow it to pay ACTIEF.

The anti-graft office had found Cebu City South District Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa, then a city councilor, liable for conflict of interest as he was the trustee and

COUNCILORS WHO ABSTAINED FROM VOTING FOR THE RESOLUTION:

Jocelyn Pesquera

Philip Zafra

Joel Garganera

Eduardo Rama

Jose Daluz III

president of ACTIEF when the school entered into an agreement with the City for the latter's scholarship program in 2011.

The ombudsman filed charges against Abellanosa before the Sandiganbayan but he was later cleared when it granted last January his motion to quash the information, saying that the facts in the case do not constitute an offense.

For his part, Osmeña said that he will pay the City's obligation to the school, adding that he doesn't want the graduates to suffer.

The P135 million that the City owes ACTIEF represents the school fees of the scholars incurred beginning on the second semester of school year 2014 to 2015.