Cebu City makes aid flexible

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2017/07/17/cebu-city-makes-aid-flexible-553326
• Monday, July 17, 2017

(RTF)

GIVEN the yearly changes in the number of public school teachers in Cebu City, City Hall will no longer allocate a fixed budget for the financial aid for teachers in the general fund of the annual budget.

Seventeen councilors present during last week’s session voted in favor of the legislation filed by Councilor Sisinio Andales amending City Ordinance 2463, which grants a P10,000 assistance to all Department of Education (DepEd) public school teachers in the city.

Prior to the amendment, Section 6 of CO 2463 provides an annual budgetary allocation of P50.1 million for cash assistance.

But with the number of DepEd public school teachers increasing by the year as a result of the growing student population, Andales said there is a need to clear out the provisions of the legislation to avoid confusion.

“The budget that will be allocated should depend on the number of qualified teachers that will be verified by the Local School Board and the division schools superintendent,” he said.

There are now 5,485 public elementary and secondary school teachers in the city that are qualified to receive the cash assistance from the City Government.

This would mean that the City will have to release about P54.9 million this year for the more than 5,000 teachers.

Andales said the City has already allocated P56 million in financial aid in the annual budget this year.