Leyte Landslide

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- Only 44 of the 103 students orphaned in the Guinsaugon landslide who availed of the Department of Education’s scholarship program have continued their studies, a report from the DepEd Eastern Visayas office shows.

Maria Getalado, regional coordinator of the Project Guinsaugon: Tabang Kabataan, states in a report that out of the 44 remaining scholars under the program, eight are in college, four are in the elementary while the rest are in high school.

"We are really sad and disappointed," she said on Wednesday, referring to students who were no longer benefiting from the scholarship program set up by the regional education department just months after the February 17, 2006 landslide that killed about 1,000 persons and buried the entire village of Guinsaugon, in Southern Leyte’s St. Bernard town.

Getalado said some of these scholars either left St. Bernard to join their relatives in other places or chose to simply stop their studies.

Getalado said that majority of those who stopped going to school were still in the elementary at the time of the tragedy.

The "Project Guinsaugon: Tabang Kabataan" was founded on March 2007 upon the initiative of DepEd regional director Sol Matugas and aims to help the orphaned children continue their studies.

Each scholar receives P500 in monthly allowance personally given to them by the DepEd office every month.

As of May, out of the total P2.28 million raised by the DepEd-8 for the program, over P991,000 were disbursed and released to the scholars. The funds came from different private and public organizations.

Filipinos living abroad like in Virginia, US, also sent donations to the scholarship program.

Getalado said they just hoped that those who stopped their studies would return to school.

"They can still avail of the scholarship so long as they will continue to study in St. Bernard or anywhere else in the region," she said.

Leo Dizon, one of the scholars of the program, said he felt sad that several of the scholars chose to stop their schooling.

"We were given this chance by the DepEd for us to be able to continue our studies. (I) hope they will realize that their decision to stop their studies is wrong," he said.

Dizon, 19, said that he would be forever grateful to those who helped him continue his studies.

He is now a second year college student taking up Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management at the Leyte State University, Tacloban City. Dizon resides at the dormitory of the DepEd here.