Universidad de Manila (UdM) president Dr. Felma Carlos-Tria reported that students have expressed gratitude to Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna and Vice Mayor Yul Servo for their genuine and unwavering support for the UdM.

This comes as she reported that the distribution of the local government's allowance for the students had been carried out swiftly and without any hitches.

Lacuna said that the allowances were given on a 'per college basis' to ensure the orderliness of the process and the students' convenience as well.

"These payouts to students are regular occurrences. These allowances are the beneficiaries' share of the taxes collected and revenues generated by the city," Lacuna said.

The mayor added that while the allowance may not be that substantial, it is meant to augment the regular expenses of the students from the city-run colleges and help tide them through.

Based on a report forwarded by Tria, it was learned that the student allowance distribution took place on 4 and 5 March 2025.

"Day 1 classes were suspended but we still distributed the allowance. We deployed more staff to distribute the cash faster so the students wouldn't need to stay in school longer than necessary," Tria said, adding that those who failed to claim their allowance may still do so until Friday.

Tria also said that nearly a hundred percent of the student-beneficiaries numbering 10,492 were already able to receive P2,000 each, representing their P1,000 monthly allowance for the months of November and December.

Alongside UdM, Lacuna said 8,200 students from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Manila were also given the same amount of allowance via their debit card accounts.

The allowances of the UdM students were released through personal payouts and Lacuna said that her administration is working on UdM students to also have debit cards for security reasons and for financial inclusion purposes consistent with policies of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The provision of monthly allowance for the total of 18,692 college students from the PLM and the UdM is part of the social amelioration program (SAP) which was passed and drafted when Lacuna was Presiding Officer of the Manila City Council, a position she held concurrent to being the Vice Mayor then.

This program also makes them recipients of monthly financial assistance from the city.