THE Cebu Provincial Government is allocating more than P32 million for school bags and school supplies that will be distributed to pre-school, grade school pupils and high school students in public schools in Cebu.
Capitol Consultant Rory Jon Sepulveda said the budget, which is being processed, will also include the teachers' lesson plan notebooks and class records.
However, Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. said the P32 million is too much.
Based on his computation from the purchases in previous years, Capitol needs only to spend about P10 million for the school bags and school supplies, he said.
Sanchez said if the Garcia administration will allocate that amount, it should include nutritious food for the poor pupils so malnutrition, which is still a big problem in the Province of Cebu, will be solved.
Meanwhile, Sanchez urged the Provincial General Services Office to distribute the truckloads of notebooks stored at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) because these are badly needed in various municipalities.
Sanchez said the notebooks were purchased last year but the distribution was withheld when his political relations with the governor turned sour.
His picture appeared on them.
The vice governor said because the election is over and both of them won, the notebooks should be distributed so the poor pupils, whose parents can hardly buy meals three times a day, can save some money.
But Sepulveda called Sanchez's latest media statement a "soap opera."
He urged Sanchez not to be too concerned about the notebooks because what have been stored at the CICC were the ones that were not distributed last year.
Also, Sepulveda said the distribution of school bags and school supplies will be done in the middle of July yet because, by that time, the Department of Education will be able to submit the list of enrollees this school year.
He said the design of the notebooks will be approved by the governor when she arrives from the United States next week. Once the designed is approved, the printing will start.
He said the distribution of school bags and school supplies has already become a regular activity of the Cebu Provincial Government. (EOB)