CLOSE to a thousand junior and senior high school students of Cebu City National Science High School (CCNSHS) will not have to worry about studying in the dark for now.
Although the school’s electricity bills remained unpaid as of yesterday afternoon, the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) has deferred the disconnection notice it issued.
In a press statement, Veco said that a representative of CCNSHS visited their service center in One Pavilion yesterday and signed a pay plan.
“In the case of CCNSHS, Veco has allowed them not to pay the required 50 percent upon filing of the pay plan since the school representative, a certain Ms. Valboten, said that the school will pay the full amount by June 29,” reads a portion of the press statement.
Buys them time
Normally, a pay plan with the service provider requires the customer to pay 50 percent of the total amount due upon signing of the plan and the other 50 percent before the reading date of the next billing cycle.
“Should the school still fail to pay their electric bill by then, Veco will then effect the disconnection of their electric service,” Veco added.
According to Veco, CCNSHS has a total of five accounts with them. Combined, the outstanding balance of these accounts amount to P544,249.69, with each account having an average of five months unpaid balance.
But in an electricity bill sent by Veco for May 15 to 21, which school officials showed journalists, CCNSHS has failed to settle around P369,984.23. Its last payment, amounting to P191,720.93, was made last Jan. 23.
Officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Schools Division went to CCNSHS for a closed-door meeting with school officials yesterday morning.
Agency’s attention
In an interview, DepEd Cebu City Assistant Division Schools Superintendent Dr. Danilo Gudelosao said the division office will help CCNSHS settle its dues.
“Mangita ta og paagi nga masulbad ni nga problema nga dili sila maputlan. Mangita pud ta og paagi nga malikayan ang the same problem (We will look for a solution so their power won’t be cut off. We’ll also look for ways to prevent this problem from recurring). But the division office cannot promise to help them all the time in such situations because there are other schools that might also need our help,” he told reporters.
For the past years, the division office has been paying for CCNSHS’s monthly electricity expenses until recently.
Concerns on the school’s monthly Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget of P95,000 being unsustainable were also raised during their meeting.
The MOOE is supposed to be spent on activities and necessities such as water and electricity, which support learning programs and help maintain a safe and healthy environment.
“Their MOOE can cover their electricity bills, but not their entire expenses. We came up with measures to save electricity for them. We are also not discounting the possibility of illegal tapping. We’ve agreed on an internal inspection as well,” Gudelosao said.
In a separate interview, CCNSHS Principal Evelyn Pielago said the matter is on their agenda for their first Parents and Teachers’ Association assembly for this school year.
Parents and frugality
“Our parents are very active, which is why we want them to be involved by teaching their children the values of frugality and using resources wisely,” she said.
Students were also informed about their situation during their flag ceremony yesterday and were told of the adjustments to save electricity.
“The amount for our MOOE should be increased, I think, because we have all these technologies that eat a lot of electricity. I am in a dilemma because we want to maintain excellence while saving, without sacrificing the deliverables,” Pielago said.
Local governments can draw from the Special Education Fund to support public schools, such as by fixing or building classrooms and helping cover schools’ utility bills. The fund is the collection of an equivalent of one percent of the assessed real property tax.
At Cebu City Hall, Councilor Joy Augustus Young said the City Government is willing to help all the 126 public elementary and secondary schools in the city pay for their utility bills for this year.
One condition, however, is that the division office can justify why the electricity bills of some schools reached P50,000 even during the summer break.
Young, deputy mayor for education, said that Bulacao Elementary School has racked up more than P40,000 in its power bill for May.
“The City is willing to help and it can be charged to the funds of the Local School Board. But I’d like for this to be justified first. The Commission on Audit is very concerned about ensuring that the City’s resources are not misused, that’s why we are being careful,” he said.