ABOUT P50 million will be allocated for the P10,000 cash incentive for Cebu City’s school teachers or double last year’s assistance.
City Councilor Jose Daluz III, City School Board chief, said the P50 million is sourced from the Special Education Fund (SEF) and will be distributed to 5,051 teachers.
They include those teaching in Muslim schools, night high schools and special education schools. The cash incentive will be distributed on Saturday, Daluz said. He held back other details citing security reasons.
“This is an incentive that we are giving to the teachers every year. We gave out P5, 000 last year and we are giving P10, 000 this year,” he said.
The City Council questioned the realignment of P29 million from the P30 million Teachers Assistance Fund for other purposes last Monday.
“We only put up the Teachers Assistance Fund because we were not yet sure then if we could charge the teachers incentives to the SEF. Now we are sure,” said Daluz.
Mayor Michael Rama said realignment of the Teachers Assistance Funds for another was a prerogative he can exercise in the absence of an approved council resolution.
He said the realignment of available funds cannot also be avoided especially after the council slashed some appropriations in his 2012 executive budget.
Daluz said this wasn’t the first time the city used the SEF for payment of teachers incentives.
“During (Rep. Tomas Osmeña’s) time they do that annually. They even give out Christmas parties for the teachers,” he said.
Daluz said the city has a P230 million SEF this year.
Quoting a report from the City Treasurer’s Office, he said, only 32 percent of the appropriation was obligated as of October 2012.
He said he could not explain the reason for the unused funding because he only assumed as school board head in the middle of the year to replace Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young.
But Daluz said that it was also possible that there are Purchase Requests for the use of the SEF that are still being processed. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac