Osmeña questions proposed allowance for teachers

Mayor Tomas Osmeña (CDN FILE PHOTO)

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña questioned the move of a city councilor to give a monthly allowance to public school teachers.

A proposed Cebu City ordinance is aiming to grant public school teachers a P4,000 monthly allowance by January 2017 just as City Hall currently provides allowances to policemen, barangay tanods (village watchmen) and lupons (village conciliators).

“We decided to make it P4,000 because we give P4,000 to the police, P5,000 to tanods and P4,000 to our lupon. At least it’s uniform,” said the author of the proposal, Councilor Jose “Joey” Daluz III, chair of the city’s Committee on Social Services and Housing.

The fund release shall cover the teachers’ cost of living allowance (Cola) and will be sourced from the city’s general fund, Daluz said.

The teachers used to receive a P2,000 monthly allowance from the city but was stopped by the Commission on Audit (COA) last June after the agency found out that the money was taken from the city’s Special Education Fund.

COA explained then that the teachers’ hardship and clothing allowances are already included in their basic salary as stated in the government’s revised compensation system.
Osmeña said he would rather prioritize the students and senior citizens than the teachers.

“They (teachers) are last in line. The students come first, senior citizens come second,” Osmeña said.

Osmeña questioned the proposal since the teachers already get salary from the national government.

“We need classrooms. Which would you prefer, one teacher will get P4,000 per month or one student cannot go to college? I’m trying to rebuild our resources so we can help the poor,” the mayor said.