The Supreme Student Council (SSC) expanded its project, Libreng Sakay sa Unang Lakbay, in its fourth implementation offering free rides to students from MSU and other schools in Gensan from their hometowns, Polomolok, Malungon, Kiamba, Koronadal, and also a free ride from MSU-CETD on January 15, 2024.
The said project pioneered on the first semester of the academic year 2022-2023, September 15, with ten jeeps from MSU-Cetd to MSU-GSC welcoming students on their first day at the university. It aimed to help students ease the impact of surging fuel prices on commuters and jeepney drivers and was implemented on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 2.0 version was exclusively implemented for MSU Gensan students from Polomolok as it was sponsored by the municipality's LGU with two batches on February 19 and 20, 2022, with 94 reservation seats, while the third implementation, or 3.0 step-up, partnered with another LGU—Malungon—with 45 seats on August 11, 2023, and two batches for Polomolok on August 13 with 94 seats, the first semester of the academic year 2022-2024.
On January 15, the SSC maximized the project in partnership with Malungon, of which 27 students availed, Polomolok with 47, adding another LGU, Koronadal with 32, and Kiamba with 15, and a batch of 192 recipients from CETD, including students going to other schools in Gensan such as GFI.
"Approximately 1000 students na ang naka benefit sa Sakay sa Unang Lakbay since last academic year to present," Jaysan Philip Castro, SSC Senator, proponent of the project and STRAW committee head, expressed in an interview.
Castro also discussed the main rationale for why they implemented Libreng Sakay sa Unang Lakbay: LGUs particularly have their own vehicles, and they want to create the notion that those vehicles are not only for those with power, also saying they want students coming from their localities to benefit from these vehicles.
"It takes you several vehicles para makapunta sa MSU, and transferring from one vehicle to another after another actually heightens or increases the chance of you being exposed to harms. So for the Koronadal, direct siya sa MSU because we want to ensure na di lang the safety of our students but more importantly, ang economic benefit jud. Dili jud mag worry si student kay LGU mag shoulder like ang gasolina, pag lend saamoa ug services," the senator addressed other reasons, the perks of students, including their safety and their savings.
Castro even stated that they are hoping for the addition of Glan, apart from the 5 LGUs and SK federations to partner with, additional localities to partner with, and a more expanded version of the project for the students to benefit from.
"I saved almost 150 pesos, and I thank SSC and our LGU kay nahatod jud mi sa school na may safety. This is a very nice initiative, and pagkabalo nako nag reserve jud ko dayon," Jana Parcasio, one of the recipients in Koronadal City said in an interview.
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