Neglected in Manila

Solo students in the Philippines without allowance since July, NTU remains silent

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

SECOND-year government-sponsored students in the Philippines have been reduced to begging the DCC Government to give them their allowance.

They have been living without allowance since July, it is reported.

And, the National Training Unit (NTU) is being silent over the matter.

Statement from the students says their level of frustration is reaching critical, with many admitting that their academic performance is being adversely affected.

They claim that their problem with allowance began in January this year and has been persisting since, this time reaching an unprecedented peak.

Clement Tito, the director of NTU, declined to comment when contacted yesterday, saying that he is under a lot of pressure and will only comment once those ‘pressures’ are cleared.

A student representative from Manila, requesting anonymity, says they are barely surviving through handouts from fellow first-year students, and help from back home in the Solomons, for those whose families can afford to send money over.

The student says among the problems faced, food, accumulating water, electricity and rental bills are the most worrying – ‘not to mention education side’.

Adding that the issue is taking its toll on few students who are ‘psychologically affected and disturbed in studies programmes’.

The student says they go to bed each night worrying what tomorrow brings, what they will eat, who they will seek help from, how to get to school, etc.

They are calling on the government to seriously consider their plight immediately.