Faculty and non-teaching personnel of the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) have pooled their concerted effort in providing financial assistance to students who are pursuing their education in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a project dubbed Oplan SAPPUYOT or Sharing Amenities and Provisions to address Problems of University Youth with Online Tertiary, some university personnel have donated various amount, while there are others who gave their one-day salary, which will serve as seed money for the immediate support to students as they learn in flexible modes in the new normal.

Sappuyot is an Ilokano term which means “to uplift one's condition with tenderness and affection.” 

Initiated by the MMSU Office of Student Affairs and Services (OSAS), the program will give to each student a one-time amount of Php 2,500 per semester. 

“The Oplan SAPPUYOT is meant to ensure that all currently enrolled MMSU students will be able to cope with financial and technological difficulties as they pursue to finish their college degrees,” said OSAS Director Elizabeth Marfel F. Gagni, explaining that the project prioritizes students who belong to a low-income family and have no single gadget to access the internet.

“It also includes those who are graduating, whose family’s source of income was dissipated due to the pandemic, whose parents’ annual income is not more than Php 100,000, and those who are not enjoying any scholarship program (in the university),” she said.

“In case two students are siblings, only one will be accommodated in the financial assistance,” she added. 

Moreover, a balance of Php 70,900 from the University’s Oplan SAWAR (Student Affairs, Whereabouts and Recourse) program is an added fund to the said initiative. 

“Eligible students may apply for financial assistance by accomplishing the online form which can be accessed at https://forms.gle/2dv4NQR9wdmgxoHRA. The approval of applications will be on first come, first served basis,” Gagni said, adding that 100 slots have already been reserved for the first batch of target beneficiaries.

The OSAS director said that donations can be deposited to Landbank-Batac branch via SA # 2131-1085-51 (Account name: Shirley C. Agrupis and Amelita U. Pungtilan and Elizabeth Marfel Gagni).

Oplan SAPPUYOT is one of the initiatives of the University to support students under the MMSU Saranay Against COVID-19 program, which includes the Oplan SAWAR, Oplan PARRUBUAT (Program to Accompany and Return University Brothers/sisters to their Beloved Utmost Abodes thru Travel provisions), Oplan Salinong (shelter), Project pa-WiFi, and E-SALUN-AT (Electronic Space for Assistance thru Listening, Understanding, Nurturing, Affirmation, and Trust). --by Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. (StratCom)