source:sunstar.com.ph
STUDENTS of Bankal National High School now hold night classes in rooms lighted only by candles and kerosene lamps.
That, even as they were allegedly made to contribute P10 each to help the school settle its debt with the Mactan Electric Cooperative (Meco) despite Lapu-Lapu City Hall’s commitment to pay the power bills of all public schools.
The report has shocked officials of City Hall and the Department of Education (DepEd) district office.
“Dili ni maayo da (this is not good),” Lapu-Lapu Vice Mayor Mario Amores said.
Amores said he will ask City Councilor Eduardo Cuizon to look into the allegations.
Bankal is within the district of Cuizon, who is also the City Council’s representative to the local school board.
“We do not know that. Wala man gani mi gi-allow nga (we never allowed) entrance fee at the opening of school year. But if it was agreed by officers of the Parents Teachers Community Association (PTCA), we can’t have a hand on it,” City School Administrative Officer V Rose Marie Lasmarinas said when asked about the issue.
Meco cut the school’s power last Nov. 24 because of its unsettled P49,907 debt, contained in two separate billings.
GMA 7’s Balitang Bisdak reported that students complained about being made to contribute P10 for electricity.
A check issued by City Hall for payment of the bills is now with Lasmarinas’ office.
The advance notice has already been transmitted to a bank so Meco could encash it today.
“Dia namo ang check so hopefully power for Bankal school will be restored tomorrow (Tuesday),” Lasmarinas said.
The city committed itself to shoulder the power consumption of all public schools.
But Bankal’s power bills was reportedly transmitted late to City Hall, which Lasmarinas partly blamed on school officials.
“Our budget allocation from the city is until October. So the delay of transmitting the bills is somewhere in the school,” she said.
The Local School Board, which is chaired by Mayor Arturo Radaza, meets once a month and is the body that decides how much should be given to DepED.
The agreed amount is then referred to the City Council for an appropriations ordinance.
Amores said the council has not received any endorsement from the local school board for passage of an appropriation ordinance for Bankal’s power bill.
He said the action of the City Council on the alleged collection of P10 will depend on the report by Cuizon.
Starting Nov. 24, DepEd was forced to use its funds from maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) account intended for traveling allowances and seminars for teachers to cover the repair needs and office supplies of some schools.
Lasmarinas said that since all public schools obtained computer units from the city, their power consumption has increased.
“We have a school that consumed only P6,000 a month, but now it is P18,000 kay nag hands-on na ang atong mga estudyante,” she said. (AIV)
Only in Lapu-lapu City: High school students use candles, lamps
Originally Posted by Motownkid
uy na-unsa gud intawn ni.. mahal kaayo tong mga lamp posts sa lapu-lapu tag P200,000 ang usa nya ang pang publikong tunghaan wala na hinuoy suga! luoya pod intawn sa mga bata.
mao! ang agianan mahal kaayo pero ang tinun-an hahayyyy
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