Cebu Provincial Capitol
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Capitol has made the construction of new school buildings a priority after discovering that it has P1 billion of unspent funds from the Special Education Fund (SEF).
Gov. Pamela Baricuatro recently revealed that they plan to tap the P1 billion SEF, which has been underutilized, to solve education issues in the province.
As of July 22, Cebu province’s SEF has already grown to roughly P1.1 billion, with only a fraction used in the past years.
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In order to access the Capitol unspent funds, the province will be convening the Provincial School Board as soon as possible, said lawyer Joseph Felix Mari ‘Ace’ Durano, Provincial Administrator.
“Actually, ang usa gyud nga gi-order ni Gov (Baricuatro) is to immediately convene the school board. Kay ana magsugod diha ang proseso sa pag-identify unsay gamitan ani nga school,” Durano said on Thursday, July 31.
But initially, the Capitol has already wanted to immediately address the lack of classrooms as well as repair buildings that have been damaged due to the onslaught by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) in 2021.
“The governor’s orders is to convene the School Board immediately… within the month of August. The School Board needs to identify and approve (the recommendations) and this is very urgent,” added Durano.
Portions of the real estate tax served as a source for the SEF, which was created to support the education sector here. In particular, to provide additional funding for the over 1,100 public schools here.
The money is usually spent for maintenance and other operating expenses such as construction of new school buildings, repairs and rehabilitation of school infrastructure, purchase of school supplies, rollout of feeding programs and hiring of teachers, to name some.
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