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Landbank formalizes support for Lingap Iskolar Program, UPCAT

| Written by Philip Jamilla

Landbank President and Chief Executive Officer Lynette Ortiz (second from left) and UP President Angelo Jimenez (third from left) shake hands following the signing of the memorandum of agreement, with Landbank Senior Vice President Catherine Rowena Villanueva (first from left) and UP Office of Student Development Services Director Tristan Nathaniel Ramos (fourth from left) as witnesses.
Photo by Bong Arboleda, UPS-MCO.

 

Landbank renewed its support for the Lingap Iskolar Program by signing a memorandum of agreement with the University of the Philippines Monday, Sept. 14.

 

UP President Angelo Jimenez and Landbank President and Chief Executive Officer Lynette Ortiz led the signing of the MOA at the Executive House in UP Diliman. UP Office of Student Development Services Director Tristan Nathaniel Ramos and Landbank Senior Vice President Catherine Rowena Villanueva signed as witnesses.

 

The MOA formalizes Landbank’s support for the Lingap Iskolar Program — which offers financial assistance to incoming students from far-flung communities and low-income households — following the memorandum of understanding signed by UP and Landbank last year.  

 

Through voluntary donations pooled from more than 12,000 Landbank employees, 10 scholars will each receive an annual financial assistance of PhP 160,000 to cover practical student necessities such as accommodation, food, allowances for books and communication, school supplies, and transportation.

 

Seated, from left to right: Landbank Senior Vice President Catherine Rowena Villanueva, Landbank President and Chief Executive Officer Lynette Ortiz, UP President Angelo Jimenez, and UP Office of Student Development Services Director Tristan Nathaniel Ramos sign copies of the memorandum of agreement.
UP President Angelo Jimenez thanks Landbank for supporting the Lingap Iskolar Program as he highlights the need for UP to reach and support more student applicants from far-flung communities and low-income households through more inclusive admissions.
Photo by Bong Arboleda, UPS-MCO.

 

“If we want this country to develop, we really have to extend opportunities to [as many sectors as we can], because when you help their lives, they help other lives as well,” Jimenez said. He highlighted the gains in UP’s flagship program on inclusive admissions, such as the increase in qualifiers from public schools and first-generation college students in the UP College Admission Test.

 

The MOA also provides for Landbank’s assistance in promoting awareness of UPCAT through the distribution of information materials, as well as free transportation for UPCAT takers through the Libreng Hatid Program. For the Aug. 1 and 2 UPCAT this year, 175 Landbank field units shuttled over 300 UPCAT takers to and from their testing centers all over the country. 

 

The OSDS and Landbank will also coordinate in providing employment and career development opportunities within the bank to UP graduates.

 

Ortiz said that Landbank’s partnership with UP “is the perfect opportunity to serve, use, and mobilize the capital of Landbank to help our Filipino people, to help communities, and to uplift lives.”

 

She added that Landbank aims to launch the Expanded Cash-Lite Campus Initiative throughout the UP System to promote secure, convenient cashless digital transactions, as well as financial inclusion and literacy, for the UP community.

 

The signatories of the memorandum of agreement (seated, from left to right): Landbank Senior Vice President Catherine Rowena Villanueva, Landbank President and Chief Executive Officer Lynette Ortiz, UP President Angelo Jimenez, and UP Office of Student Development Services Director Tristan Nathaniel Ramos, together with other UP and Landbank officials (standing, from left to right): Landbank Assistant VP Esmeralda Cairo, VP for Employee Relations Mira Leah Patio, VP Joey Rodriguez, Senior VP for Human Resource Management Emmanuel Hio Jr., and Senior VP for the Treasury and Investment Banking Sector Gonzalo Benjamin Bongolan; UP Executive Vice President Caesar Saloma, VP for Planning and Finance Joselito Florendo, Assistant VP for Academic Affairs (Student Affairs) Maria Shari Niña Oliquino, VP for Administration Tiffany Adelaine Tan, Assistant VP for Administration for Human Resource Development Augustus Resurreccion, and UP Diliman Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jose Carlo De Pano.
Photo by Bong Arboleda, UPS-MCO.