The Bacolod City School Board has approved the release of P5 million for the unpaid Emergency Cost of Living Allowance of more than 2,000 public school teachers, acting Bacolod Vice Mayor Greg Gasataya yesterday said.

“Hopefully we could settle the remaining balance on the teachers’ unpaid ECOLA next year,” he said.

When the administration of Mayor Evelio Leonardia took over in 2004 the unpaid ECOLA of public school teachers was P65 million, Gasataya said. At present it is less than P20 million, he said.

The city government is also planning to provide school bags and notebooks to public elementary and high school students in the city on top of the miscellaneous fees it has been subsidizing, Gasataya, chairman of the Committee on Education, said.

The city has identified a budget for the purchase of school bags and notebooks for about 70,000 public school children that the School Board, headed by Leonardia, will approve when he returns from the United States, he said.

The city will also be putting up additional classrooms and they are now evaluating which schools are in need of them, Gasataya said.

The city has also provided a budget for the hiring of additional guards to augment the existing ones assigned to the different public elementary and high schools all over the city, Gasataya said.

Meanwhile, Gasataya said the city has about 500 scholars and the Bacolod City College will start accepting applicants for scholarships next month. The number will depend on the availability of the budget, he said.

An applicant should be in the top 20 percent of his/her graduating class, a resident of Bacolod, and must have a family income not exceeding P10,000 a month to avail of the city’s academic scholarship, Gasataya said.

To avail of the city’s scholarship for the poor, one must be a resident of Bacolod, and should have a family income not exceeding P5,000 a month, he said.

The BCC was established in 1995 during the first term of Leonardia as city mayor.*CGS

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