PGMA’s “One Town One Scholar” Program makes pedicab driver and son cry

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
May 8, 2009

TACLOBAN CITY  –  A pedicab driver and his son shed tears upon being told that the son is among the first set of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “One Town One Scholar” Program.

“I was anxious when a neighbor told me last night that my son Argie and I are being requested by the Mayor to see him at 8:00 o’clock in the morning today,” Mr. Mabag, a pedicab driver from Cabuynan, Tanauan, Leyte, said.

At exactly 8:00 o’clock in the morning, Mr. Mabag and his son Argie were at Mayor Roque Tiu’s office.

Mayor Tiu then told the father and son that Argie’s application to be a “One Town One Scholar” has been approved by CHED and that the Mayor will accompany him to Manila to receive the scholarship certificate from no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Malacanang Palace.

“I was shocked and at the same time surprised to see they shed tears,” Mayor Tiu said confiding that he was taken aback at the reaction of the father and son.

He said that CHED Region 8 called him up early evening of Monday informing him that Tanauan’s “One Town One Scholar” will represent Region 8 in the awarding of scholarship certificates at Malacanang on Wednesday, May 6.

Mayor Tiu who just bought a ticket to Manila for Thursday May 7, immediately called up the ticketing office to change his flight date and bought another ticket for Argie.

“I never expected to be able to pursue a college education,” Argie said. “Thanks to President Gloria, my dream to become a professional so that I could help improve the economic standing of my family will be realized,” Argie said crying.

Admitting he has never been to Manila, Argie said he is not afraid because he will be with the Mayor. He is excited to see President Arroyo at Malacanang, he confessed.

Argie said he learned about the “One Town One Scholar” program of President Arroyo from Mayor Tiu during the graduation exercises last March.

Knowing that his parents cannot afford to send him to college because his father is just a tricycle driver who every now and then would cook bread and native delicacies to augment the family income, Argie wrote an application letter and he took the written exam given by the local government unit.

Argie, who graduated as an honorable mention in his class, the first batch of graduates from the Cabuynan Annex of the Tanauan National High School, topped the written exams and interview conducted by the LGU, together with an equally bright student from his school.

Mayor Tiu said that after he recommended Argie to CHED, he decided to take in the other bright student applicant as a scholar of the Local Government Unit.