The Commission on Higher Education has approved an additional P5,000 financial assistance to each college student in Yolanda-affected areas, an official said on Tuesday.

In a press briefing in Malacanang, CHED Commissioner Prospero de Vera III said the government has appropriated P540 million assistance to public and private students in the typhoon-hit areas.

The amount was "residual money" from Yolanda funds that were not utilized in 2016, he said.

"The Office of the President instructed CHED to expedite the use of this money. We are sending notices to all the public and private universities in Yolanda- affected areas that the money will be available to them," he said.

De Vera said the fund will be disbursed by the universities and colleges to students as financial assistance starting this month as soon as necessary paperwork is completed.

He said the one-time assistance can be used by the students to pay their miscellaneous fees or books.

For 2017 General Appropriations Act, there is no Yolanda fund to be extended to the college students.

Yolanda or internationally named as Haiyan, brought massive destruction in most parts of the country, particularly in Visayas. It left over 6,000 people dead and nearly 2,000 others missing.

In the same press briefing, De Vera said CHED will be issuing in the next couple of days an advisory to all universities and colleges to immediately accept students coming from war-torn Marawi City if they want to transfer.

"This is like what we did in the case of Yolanda. We issued an advisory to the schools that they should accept transferees even with incomplete records. Immediately accept them in light of the problem that we are encountering in Marawi, so that the records can come later," he said.

In the meantime, he said that there is no big problem now in terms of disruption of classes in Mindanao State University in Marawi and in nearby Iligan City because their classes will open in August.

In both campuses, he noted there is a significant number of evacuees.

Government troopers have been pursuing the Islamic State-linked Maute Terror Group, which attacked and started occupying Marawi on May 23.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law in the whole of Mindanao due to Marawi crisis. Celerina Monte/DMS