State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the city government of Parañaque and the Department of Education (DepEd) for a student assistance program that will benefit over 40,000 qualified public school students, a top official said.
DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the bank will assist the local government unit of Parañaque in providing a P5,000 annual allowance to junior and senior public high school students in the city starting this school year, in a bid to also encourage out-of-school youth to go back to school.
Under the agreement, DBP will facilitate the electronic disbursement of allowances and subsidies through the students’ DBP savings account, which comes with a DBP EMV Debit Card that may be used at any DBP or BancNet-affiliated ATM. Approved student-beneficiaries shall be qualified to open a DBP savings account without the initial deposit and maintaining balance requirements, with interest to be earned upon reaching a deposit balance of P500.00.
“We want to make it possible for the student-beneficiaries to access their accounts easily through our services,” Herbosa said. DBP will also conduct the proper training to teacher-advisers at designated partner-schools on the KYC procedure under the AMLA, in coordination with the LGU and DepEd.
This latest arrangement is a testament to DBP’s continuous effort in contributing to the improvement of lives of Filipinos across the nation to make available the highest possible standards of quality education, Herbosa added.
Parañaque City is a first class, highly urbanized city with over 21 public elementary schools and 10 public high schools. City Mayor Edwin L. Olivares said the joint initiative with DBP and DepEd would allow the city government to arrange for P500 monthly allowance for all public school students of the city, provided that they would exhibit consistent class attendance and good moral character and conduct.