P165M education funds not usable

CEBU, Philippines -  The Cebu City government has over P300 million Special Education Fund but more than half of this amount reportedly cannot be used for school-related projects.

This is because P165 million of the P300 million is on a five-year time deposit with the Philippine Veterans Bank, said Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña.

Osmeña said she found out after review of old documents that the P165 million was deposited under the City Hall’s General Fund.

The City Council discovered millions of pesos intended for the Special Education Fund are still under the General Fund and was never transferred to the SEF.

This prompted the Council to pass a resolution in October 23, 2013 requiring the city treasurer to transfer P80 million from the General Fund account to SEF. The law provides that SEF shares one percent of the Real Property Tax collections of the local government unit for school-related projects.

Osmeña said she observed that last April, P165 million was added to the SEF account, however, City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas admitted the amount is under time deposit previously under the General Fund.

“Gibalhin lang nato ang P165 million sa Special Education Fund kay dili pa man ‘sab nila gamiton ang tibuok g’yud nga kantidad sa SEF,” Cuevas told The Freeman.

 “Would this mean that the SEF under the said Time Deposit cannot be withdrawn until it matures in 2016?” Osmeña asked.

 It was former city treasurer Ofelia Oliva who placed the huge amount under time deposit purposely to earn revenue of six percent interest per annum.

 Some of the city councilors allied to Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK) said the city should not keep the SEF but spend it to construct new classrooms and/or repair dilapidated ones.  (FREEMAN)