ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Touched by viral video of student selling medals, solon proposes 'redeemable financial value' for school medals, honors

Touched by viral video of student selling medals, solon proposes 'redeemable financial value' for school medals, honors

Published Sep 26, 2020 10:56 am

Touched by a heart-wrenching viral video of a Grade 4 student selling his medals, Misamis Oriental 2nd District Rep. Juliette Uy proposed Saturday (Sept. 26) that the academic honors and awards be given “redeemable financial value.”

(PIXABAY / MANILA BULLETIN)

The vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations asked the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to work with the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and find ways on how to make the academic honors medals and certificates received by public school students graduating with honors and special awards be given corresponding face value like that of commemorative coins.

"My suggestion to the DepEd, CHED, DOF, and BSP is two-fold. Instead of just the usual medals given out to the public school honor students and awardees, I propose that the medals have matching commemorative coins with legal tender face values of P5,0000, P10,000, P20,000, and P25,000,” she said in a statement.

"Instead of just parchment paper diplomas indicating their academic honors and awards, the public school honor students' diplomas will have a matching Retail Treasury Bond certificate with coupons and redeemable on or before 10-year maturity,” she added.

She made such proposal in response to the viral social media post showing a Grade 4 student who resorted to selling his medals to help his family cope up with the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Poverty remains the biggest problem our country faces. The COVID-19 pandemic and community quarantines exposed its festering cancerous wounds,” Uy, a member of the House Committee on Education, said.

She proposed that the commemorative coins and retail treasury bonds be awarded as follows:

*P25,000 denomination - Grade 6 and Grade 12 graduates with highest honors and for college graduates with summa cum laude honors;

*P20,000 denomination - Grade 6 and Grade 12 graduates with high honors and for college graduates with magna cum laude honors;

*P10,000 denomination - Grade 6 and Grade 12 graduates with honors and for college graduates with cum laude honors;

*P5,000 denomination - Grade 6 and Grade 12 graduates with special academic and co-curricular awards and for college graduates with special awards and citations.

Uy said she is leaving up the features of the commemorative coins and retail treasury bonds to the implementing agencies.

"It is within the powers and authority of the BSP and Bureau of Treasury to make these happen to honor our outstanding graduates at the end of every school year on behalf of a grateful and proud nation,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.