The Aquino government should allocated a portion of the calamity fund to schools used to shelter flood victims, Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara said yesterday.
Angara, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, said the funds could be used to pay for the utility bills and defray expenses incurred by the school during the stay of the flood victims.
“What is happening today is that after typhoon evacuees have left the school, the latter is left with utility bills to pay, trash to be collected and rooms and toilets to be cleaned,” he explained.
“In some cases, there are unintentional damages caused, minor ones though, like broken chairs or misplaced books,” Angara added.
In a related development, Quezon City Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo urged the Aquino administration to convene immediately a flood summit among national and local officials, lawmakers and representatives of the private sector and civil society.
Angara said the repair and replacement of damaged equipment are shouldered by the schools that are forced to spend their measly maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) funds, but in most cases teachers have to dig in their own pockets.
He said the MOOE devolved by the Department of Education to a school “comes to about P230 per student per year.”
“That‘s about one peso per student per school day. And money for water, electricity, test materials, the salary of security guard, supplies and all other operational expenses is taken from the MOOE fund,“ the solon said.
He said government can help schools used as evacuation centers during calamities by reimbursing part of the “unforeseen expenses” in hosting displaced persons.
Angara said the “reimbursement” can be drawn from the calamity fund, which has a budget of P7.5 billion this year, and if they can afford it, from local governments, whose annual budgets carry reserve accounts for contingencies.