THE Davao City Council is looking for other sources of funds for the teachers’ additional allowance and rice subsidy since the budget for 2019 has been appropriated for Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s programs.

Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said he is going to meet with the Association of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Tuesday, August 28, to resolve the teachers’ demand and "try to balance" each concern.

ACT submitted a letter of request to the council for an “additional monthly allowance of P2,000 and a quarterly rice subsidy of P2,500 for all Department of Education (DepEd) personnel”.

“As chairman of the Committee on Finance, Ways and Means and Appropriations, I want to see how much did they [department head] spend on the budget appropriated for 2018,” Dayanghirang said, adding that from there, they will see how they are going to prioritize based on the programs of Mayor Duterte-Carpio.

Dayanghirang said ACT is demanding for additional allowance per month per teacher, and the council does not know where to get the fund to meet their demand.

Dayanghirang said he doesn’t want ACT to expect as much.

“I do not want to put on the spot the mayor. I want to mellow down their expectation. I want to bring down their expectation that might be too high, that we should understand that there are still others who need government fund,” he said.