Senators on Wednesday expressed support for increasing scholarships for children of combatants to help improve the country’s peace situation.
During the Senate Finance Subcommittee E hearing on the proposed 2026 budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser for Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU), Senator Loren Legarda suggested raising the annual scholarship from PHP50,000 and expanding the number of beneficiaries per family.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa backed the proposal, citing his experience as a full scholarship student at Mindanao State University in Marawi before entering the Philippine Military Academy in 1982. He added that the additional funding “will not be too much, compared to the anomalous flood control projects.”
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Committee on Finance chairperson, also supported the measure. “Maganda yun, kasi they are thinking po of the future eh. Kaya, I agree with Senator Loren, maganda yung proposal niya. Hindi naman para sa kanila (combatants) ito eh, para sa mga anak nila ito eh,” he said.
Gatchalian further suggested merging OPAPRU with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to enhance operational efficiency. “Merging the two agencies would create one agency that would be the focal point for the issues relating to peace and order in the countryside,” he said.