QUEZON CITY, Jan. 27 (PIA)--The Quezon City government is taking the digital way in the distribution of stipend and allowances to its scholars.

Mayor Joy Belmonte on Saturday, distributed PayMaya cards to some 1,000 scholars which they can use to claim their stipends and allowances from the local government through any Automatic Teller MAchine (ATM). The card can also be used for cashless transactions.

Belmonte said PayMaya cards will help in the prompt distribution of allowances and benefits to scholars, which they can use to pay their tuition and other school fees without delay.

"Dati, ang disbursements ng allowances at benefits sa atin ay inaabot ng ilang buwan. Matagal at masalimuot pa ang proseso," Belmonte said.

"We don't want our scholars and their families to worry since they are our city's scholars. We want them to focus on their studies," she added.

Belmonte said the PayMaya cards distributed to scholars already contain the stipend and allowance for the first semester.

The mechanism will ease the current process of manual releasing of financial assistance to the city's scholars.

Belmonte said scholars need not go the City Hall to claim their grants as it will be released through their PayMaya cards.

Currently, the City's scholarship program is categorized under Scholarship Degree Courses (Four years), Educational Assistance Program (one year), and Support Mechanisms for Senior High School (SHS) students.

Under the Scholarship Degree, valedictorian and salutatorians are entitled to P40,000 tuition fee assistance and stipend of P10,000 per semester while students who received 1st to 8th honorable mention stand to receive P15,000 for tuition and P5,000 stipend per semester.

Civic leaders, such as Sangguniang Kabataan officials, Centrex Alumni and Officials of Supreme Student Councils, School Publications and Scout Leaders receive P4,000 for tuition fee and P1,500 stipend per semester. Regular scholars receive P4,000 for tuition fee and P1,500 stipend per semester.(PIA-NCR)