Council approves P1 million financial aid for SK

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has approved the P1 million financial assistance for each of seven Sangguniang Kabataan councils intended for their respective projects and programs.

During the City Council’s session yesterday, ex-officio member Jessica Resch, who sponsored the resolutions, got the nod of the other members on the said matter.

The seven barangays are Tejero, Bonbon, Toong, Sambag 1, Kinasang-an, Punta Princesa, and Babag.

These barangays are among of the nine barangays whose proposals are questioned by the councilors earlier as several proposed items to be purchased are overpriced.

When it was presented again yesterday, these barangays were able to revise their proposals as requested by the councilors.

But the councilors told Resch to remind the SK officials to follow auditing rules and procedures laid by the Commission on Audit (COA) and other existing laws to avoid irregularities in the future.

To recall, the city government has appropriated P80 million for the financial assistance of the 80 SK councils in the city.

Barangay Babag has proposed projects like Babag Integrated School, beautification of SK office and procurement of sound system worth P50,000; monoblock chairs and table for P40,000; three computer sets for P150,000; printer for P15,000; and camera for P40,000.

Others are chairs and table for P50,000; portable laptop for P30,000; electric fans for P5,000; paint for P10,000; bond paper and pen for P15,000, among others.

An amount of P350,000 is set aside for the basketball league in the said barangay.

The P1 million for barangay Bonbon is intended for the procurement of sports equipment and office supplies such as laminating machine, computer set, basketball fiber glass board, projector, laptop, water dispenser and others.

For Barangay Punta Princesa, they will utilized the financial assistance from the city government for ‘academic supplies’ such as laptop, computer set, printer with scanner, conference table and others.

The SK council of barangay Sambag 1 is going to use the P1 million for medical mission, fire preparedness, gymnasium beautification, wealth sanitation and hygiene projects.

For barangay Tejero, the P1 million financial is intended for Brigada Eskwela, office supplies and others.

The financial assistance for Barangay Toong is for the procurement of office supplies and equipment, sports program, education activities and others.

Further, for barangay Kinasang-an, the P1 million is for the procurement of communication materials.

With the approval of their proposals, the seven SK councils are expected to submit the detailed Project Procurement Management Plan (PPMP) to the City Council. — MBG (FREEMAN)