‘Hasten release of allowances’

Official explains that three-month processing of funds is reasonable, considering the role of institutions, offices in ensuring that money is spent properly Councilors look for windows to fast-track the processing since delay is unfair for students

CEBU City councilors want the immediate release of the allowances of the estimated 13,000 scholars of the City Government.

Instead of a threemonth delay, they want it reduced to one month, considering that the students need the money.

The delay on the release of the scholars allowances was tackled by the council yesterday after receiving complaints from some of the students.

Under the City’s scholarship program, students are given a P1,000 school supplies allowance per semester on top of their P10,000 tuition subsidy. Scholars from the mountain barangays receive an additional P5,000 per semester for transportation expenses.

In an executive session, City Accountant Mark Solomon said there is a delay in the release of the allowances because of the processes needed for the transaction.

But he said the three to four months delay is a “reasonable delay.”

Solomon told the members of the council that before the allowances will be released, a billing from the participating schools is needed. There are more than 20 colleges and universities that are participating in the scholarship program.

Process

The billing will include the list of the scholars enrolled in the schools.

Each school, Solomon said, takes one month to prepare the billing since they still have to segregate students who failed, those who did not fail and those who are no longer enrolled.

The billing, he added, are being prepared by the schools only after June 30 as it is the last enrollment day.

Once the billing is received by the City, it will then be forwarded to the scholarship committee who will then certify that the list of enrollees attached in the billing are, indeed, enrolled in the said school. The same certification will be issued by the Department of Education.

After the list is verified, the scholarship committee will then prepare the payroll and forward it to the City Budget Office for appropriation purposes. This, Solomon said, takes two to three weeks.

After this, the accounting department will then conduct pre-audit on the transaction, which will also take at least two to three weeks.

Once the pre-audit will be finished, it will then be forwarded for the City Treasurer’s Office so funds will be released.

Upon learning about this, Councilor Sisinio Andales asked if it is possible to shorten the procedures to one month.

“It is not fair for the students nga three to four months pa ma-release ang allowance because they need it,” he said.

Solomon said they cannot shorten the process, saying that they depend on the data from the schools.

“This is a government program that involves government funds. The cash involve is too big and we cannot compromise the documentation,” he added.

Budget

Every year, the City sets aside at least P300 million for the scholarship program.

Councilor Nestor Archival, who presided over yesterday’s executive session, said that one of the problems in program is that there is only one personnel at the scholarship committee who is preparing the payroll.

Because of this, he recommended for the hiring of more people.

Archival also wants the Management Information Computer System (Mics) to come up with a data bank of all the scholars so the checking of who are those enrolled in the schools will no longer be done manually.

Since they did not have a quorum yesterday, the councilors will be filing the legislative interventions for the improvement of the scholarship program during their regular session next week.