Saturday, November 17, 2007 Audit ordered on school supplies
THE Provincial Treasurer’s Office has two weeks to report to the governor how school supplies intended for public elementary and high schools in the province were distributed, and why some intended beneficiaries didn’t get their shares.
Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre said he has sent a memorandum to the municipal treasurers to account for the province’s allocation of school supplies in at least five schools in each town.
But Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia wants an accounting of all the schools in the province.
Salubre complied and said the report will be ready in two weeks, except for Bantayan. He told the governor there were no more supplies for the northern island.
“Giunsa man na pag-kwenta? (How was this estimated?),” Garcia asked.
Salubre explained that when they went to the different schools, there were more students than the school supplies intended for them. He also said the supplies will arrive next week.
Confirmation
Each Grade 1 student should have received a school bag, three writing notebooks, a pad of paper, two pencils, an eraser and a ruler. Grades 2 to 6 pupils, as well as high school students, were to get three writing notebooks, a pad of paper, two pencils and a plastic envelope each.
When Garcia visited the northern towns last week, she asked students if they already received their notebooks and pencils.
But some said they only received one notebook and a pencil, while some high school students did not receive anything at all.
Medellin officials led by Mayor Ricardo Ramirez and Vice Mayor Michael Miranda, in a visit to the governor, said that all materials were already distributed to the schools after the issue was reported.
The project to distribute school supplies started last year for Grades 1 to 3 pupils. This year, the Provincial Government included the rest of the elementary students and some high school students. The project covers 957 elementary schools and 202 high schools.
Direct
Department of Education (DepEd) Provincial Director Recaredo Borgonia said the Provincial Government “directly delivered” the supplies to the different public schools and did not pass through the division office.
“The division office had nothing to do with the distribution,” although some personnel assisted in some schools, he told Sun.Star Cebu in a mobile phone interview yesterday.
Borgonia confirmed the school supplies were not enough, despite three deliveries, that’s why some students failed to receive complete sets.
There were more than 300 students from the schools in Medellin who did not receive anything, he said, adding that he will be conducting an inventory on this.
Borgonia said he will meet with the governor next week to map out the guidelines for the proper distribution of donated materials. (JGA/TEP)
