Foundation’s third-quarter grants equivalent to half a year in 2014

The foundation’s head, Wu Zhiliang

During the third quarter, the Macau Foundation has distributed almost half of the total amount it allocated last year in subvention to local organizations. The Women’s General Association of Macau and the Catholic Foundation for Higher Education were the top two recipients.
The former association, headed by Tina Ho Teng Iat –
the Legislative Assembly president Ho Iat Seng’s sister –
received around MOP129 million in total to be used for the refurbishment of its headquarters, annual events, festive gifts and for the construction of a new school campus in Hac Sa Wan. According to the notice published in the Official Gazette, the new campus alone received a MOP116 million  support.
Another grant recipient, the Catholic Foundation for Higher Education, received a total of MOP101 million. A portion of the grant is to be devoted to the second-phase construction of its Ilha Verde campus, which is scheduled to become operational next year.
The subsidy-granting body pledged earlier that no cuts would be made to its funding to education and vulnerable communities. The third quarter’s total grant of MOP536,726,753.67 was almost the sum total of the MOP565,217,147 in the last two quarters of 2014.
The president of the foundation’s administrative committee, Wu Zhiliang, previously called on some of the beneficiaries to reduce spending on food-related expenses, such as catering and banquets. According to him, education accounts for around 70 percent of the grant distribution.