Many indigent Pisay students skip meals to send stipend to families, says Mika Suansing

Many hard-up students of the state-run Philippine Science High School, the country's top secondary education institution, skip meals so they can send their stipend to help their families, Nueva Ecija Rep. MIkaela Suansing said on Wednesday.

In pushing to double the monthly stipend of PSHS or Pisay students from P4,000 to P8,000, the chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations and Pisay alumna said this was the plight of some of her former classmates and the story shared by a PSHS official.

“Ang nangyayari po, at ito rin po ang shinare ng Executive Director ng Pisay, a lot of the indigent students not only use their stipends for their own," Suansing said during the House Budget Amendments Review Committee discussions on proposed amendments on the P6.793 trillion proposed budget for 2026.

"They actually give... send a lot of their money to their families,” she added.

(I have seen the situation of some of my classmates in the Quezon City campus of Pisay, and this is what the Executive Director also told me.)

“Ang kwento po sa akin ng Executive Director, itong 25% ng mga estudyante na nasa P4,000 [stipend per month] cluster sa kasalukuyan, hindi po sila kumakain, para lang mapadala nila yung stipends nila sa kanilang mga magulang sa mga probinsya," Suansing said.

"Kasi kung hindi po nila ise-share iyong stipend na natatanggap nila, wala pong kakainin yung mga kapatid nila na naiwan po sa mga probinsiya,” she added.

(The Executive Director was telling me that those who receive P4,000 a month skip meals so that they can send money to their families in the provinces. Because if they don’t send this money, their siblings would have nothing to eat.)

Suansing said that by increasing the monthly stipend of the P4,000 cluster to P8,000, the students will be able to spend on their needs while they study as they should.

“So, ito pong P4,000 na itataas natin para po sa kabuuan na P8,000, talaga pong mapapakinabangan na po nila ito para sa sarili nila,” Suansing said.

(If we raise this P4,000 to P8,000, it will be quite beneficial for them.)

The House Budget Amendments Review Committee approved the proposed amendment for doubling the monthly P4,000 stipend of PSHS students without objection.

The House BARC also approved the realignment to the PSHSS of the following allocations:

• P19.49 million for augmentation of Science and Technology Scholarship
• P4.7 million for laptops of students and
• P97 million for the construction and rehabilitation of PSHSS facilities in Quezon City

The realigned budget allocations for the PSHS is part of the P56 billion realigned funds to the education sector that the House BARC approved on Wednesday, October 8.

Those P56 billion were realigned to the following agencies:

• PSHS
• Commission on Higher Education
• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and
• State Universities and Colleges.

All amendments approved by the House BARC are expected to be introduced and approved before the House plenary on Friday, October 10. –NB,GMA Integrated News