Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano adjusted the 2026 Special Education Fund (SEF) to a projected P252 million, significantly lower than the P700 million budgeted by the previous administration.
The City is prioritizing structural repairs and hazard mitigation for student safety while proposing staggered payments to suppliers to address outstanding financial obligations from previous years' infrastructure projects.
Despite financial constraints, the City will distribute 27,875 school supply sets to public school students during the last week of July, with procurement for the items already underway.
MANDAUE City Mayor Thadeo Jovito “Jonkie” Ouano said the City Government is stabilizing its Special Education Fund (SEF) at a more realistic P252 million, significantly lower than the P700 million budgeted under the previous administration.
With limited SEF resources, Ouano said they are prioritizing structural repairs and hazard mitigation projects in public schools as part of preparations for the new school year.
“Historically, our SEF collections have never exceeded P300 million. I cannot explain why the previous budget reached as high as P700 million, but this year we are trying to budget only what we are actually expected to receive,” Ouano said.
The mayor said the SEF, sourced from a share of real property tax collections, has generated P221 million as of midyear.
“Our forecast for the entire year is P252 million. That is our projected SEF collection for 2026,” he said.
Given the limited budget, the City is reviewing school projects proposed as far back as 2023 and 2024.
“We cannot fund everything. We have to focus on our priorities,” Ouano said.
Among those priorities are projects that directly affect student safety and welfare. Ouano said he agrees with City Councilor Joel Seno, chairman of the committee on appropriations, budget and finance, that safety-related projects should
take precedence.
“Repainting and other superficial improvements can take a backseat for now,” he added.
Unpaid obligations
Ouano also disclosed that the City is still dealing with unpaid obligations from projects implemented in previous years, including laboratory facilities and solar energy installations.
To address the issue, the City has proposed staggered payments to suppliers since the current budget cannot accommodate full settlement
at once.
“I told the suppliers that if they are willing to wait, we can pay them in installments. If they are not willing to wait, then I would rather have them remove the installations,” the mayor said.
He said the arrangement would allow the City to continue funding current priorities while gradually settling past obligations.
“If we spend all our funds settling past projects, we will have nothing left for this year’s priorities,” Ouano said, adding that the City continues to “tighten our belts” as it manages limited resources.
Despite the financial constraints, the City will distribute 27,875 school supply sets to public school students in the last week of July. Ouano said he had inspected the items and was satisfied with their quality. Each package will contain a bag, notebooks, ballpens, a tumbler, a raincoat and a reusable storage box.
Procurement is already underway, with deliveries expected this July. The school supplies will be funded through the SEF, while disaster preparedness materials for high school students will be sourced from the City’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund.
The mayor appealed for understanding as the city balances limited resources with the growing needs of the education sector.
“Despite our limitations, we will continue to find ways to support our teachers and students because education remains one of our top priorities,” Ouano said.
He added that the City is also exploring ways to provide Teachers’ Day tokens through the general fund.
“We love our teachers here in the city,” he said. / ABC & Bejay Chen Tabayag, Benedicto College Interm