To help aspiring doctors to finish their education despite the financial constraints brought by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Marikina City has granted medical scholarship to six qualified residents, who after passing the Physician Licensure Exam, are required to serve in the city as doctors of the local government.
Mayor Marcelino "Marcy" Teodoro said that, under the “Libreng Pag-aaral sa Pag Dodoktor para sa mga Marikeño” scholarship program, two medical students from Marikina have qualified for the Gold Scholarship Grant which entitles them to receive a P150,000 educational assistance each.
The four others, meantime, received P75,000 education assistance after qualifying for the Silver Scholarship Grant.
Gold Scholarship Grant recipients are: Erika R. Mercado, 25 of Barangay Concepcion Dos, she graduated summa cum laude and a consistent scholar, her father had a stroke so her studies suffered and lost her past scholarship, her mother is a public school teacher in Marikina; and Jemicah Tristian P. Cobarrubias of Barangay Jesus Dela Pena, eldest child with three siblings, both his parents are online sellers, their house in Provident Village has been destroyed by Typhoon Ulysses.
The four recipients of the Silver Scholarship Grant are Dale Joseph Dino,24, of Barangay Sta. Elena; Angelica Reyes, 22, of Barangay Concepcion Uno; Christina Joyce Diano, 22, of Barangay Barangka; and Angelo Franco Rafael Piamonte, 28, of Barangay IVC.
“Many Marikina residents want to become doctors. Although they want to become doctors, but are financially challenged. That is why we came up to this medical scholarship program,” Teodoro said.
In 2019, Teodoro signed City Ordinance No. 078, Series of 2019 which provides an opportunity to Marikina residents aspiring doctors who cannot afford to pursue their careers in the medical field. It was primarily authored by the Vice Mayor Marion Andres, who is a licensed doctor.
The medical scholarship grant can only be availed at following schools: Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Far Eastern University, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Manila Central University, University of Santo Tomas, Fatima University, University of the East, University of Perpetual Help System-DALTA, and St. Luke’s College of Medicine.
Under the ordinance, to be eligible to the scholarship grant, applicants must pass the entrance examination for medicine, a bona fide Marikina resident, not more than 30 years of age upon graduating from a pre-medicine course, and must send a letter of intent on availing of the scholarship grant.
In addition, the applicant must have obtained any bachelor’s degree that is construed as a pre-medicine course, and has passed and has been endorsed by the city’s Medical Scholarship Grant Secretariat and the Medical Scholarship Board.
Continuing medical students on their second to fourth year status can also avail themselves of the scholarship, it stated.
The ordinance requires beneficiaries to render two years of professional service as doctors of the local government after passing the board examination, the mayor said.
The Medical Scholarship Board is composed of the mayor as chairman, the vice mayor as the vice chairman, and the chairman on the Committee on Education of the City Council.