Vice President and presidential aspirant Maria Leonor Robredo said if chosen to the country’s top post, she will ensure that students, especially underprivileged ones relying on government scholarships, will have easy access to quality education despite their economic status.

Robredo gave the assurance during a campaign rally here on Tuesday evening.

“I want to assure our students that if you have a scholarship, but you find it difficult to cope with poverty, decent living, or everyday expenses, the government will help you because it knows how to spend the money for the people,” she said.

Earlier, Robredo also visited the cities of Iligan and Gingoog in Misamis Oriental.

While here, she also thanked her supporters who made their way out to attend the campaign rally.

Robredo said it was her supporters who pooled their time and resources to make her campaign here successful.

“Even our headquarters are lent to us by our supporters,” she said.

The crowd that attended Robredo’s rally consisted mostly of students and young professionals said, Maj. Sebastian Chua, the Divisoria police station commander.

“The activity was peaceful. We did not receive any report of petty crimes like pickpocketing or snatching,” Chua said.

Before the rally, representatives from various sectors were invited to discuss issues affecting them in the hopes that Robredo will act on them once she is elected into office.

Joel Gabatan from the transport sector spoke about his concerns about the national government’s public utility vehicle modernization program.

Denise Edwina Gonzales, a student formator at Xavier University and one of Robredo’s volunteers here, said the Department of Education must address the “new normal” in learning especially in the transition from online to face-to-face.

The crowd of mostly young people attending the rally, Gonzales noted, could be due to the youth’s active presence online and their grasp of the present national issues.

“I think students who spend so much time in social media read the post of the [Office of the Vice President] and [Vice President]. They have chat groups,” she said in an online interview Tuesday night. (PNA)