Mandaue to prioritize school requests that address student safety

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — The Mandaue City Government will prioritize school requests that address safety concerns among students as it manages limited resources under the Special Education Fund (SEF), following a recent Local School Board meeting.

Mayor Thadeo “Jonkie” Ouano said the city, together with the Department of Education, will carefully evaluate requests submitted by public schools and give priority to projects considered safety hazards, while less urgent improvements will have to wait.

During the meeting on Tuesday, June 16, various school requests were presented, including repairs of school facilities, installation of perimeter fencing, construction of drainage systems, repainting of buildings, and other infrastructure needs amounting to millions of pesos. Some of these requests have been pending since 2023 to 2025.

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However, the mayor said the city cannot immediately fund all proposed projects due to budget limitations.

“Gipakita bitaw nila nato unsa dapat i-priority dili mangud to nato magastuhan tanan. As I concur with Atty. Joel’s suggestion nga unahon tong projects nga safety hazard sa atoang students secondary nalang tong repainting, superficial requests, ” Ouano said.

(They did show us some projects that need funding. But we cannot fund them all. We need to prioritize projects that address the safety hazards of our students)

He explained that the city is adopting a more realistic budgeting approach for the SEF, which is funded through one percent of the city’s real property tax collections.

As of midyear, the city has collected about P221 million under the SEF, while total collections for the year are projected to reach around P252 million.

Because of limited funds, Ouano said the city must balance current school needs with existing obligations and other priority programs.

He added that last year’s SEF budget projections under the previous administration exceeded actual collections.

“Historically, atoang SEF from the previous years dili man molapas og P300 million, but ni-over budget man sila ato to P700 million last year. This year we are trying to budget kung unsa lang gyud nga madawat nato,” he said.

(Historically, our SEF from previous years do not exceed P300 million, but last year, it ballooned to P700 million. This year, we will try to limit our budget to what we will be getting from the SEF)

The mayor said that due to the deficit, the city is still addressing unpaid obligations for projects implemented under the previous administration, including laboratories and solar power installations that have already been completed.

The city government faced a deficit after reportedly overestimated revenue projections of around P700 million made by the previous administration, which led the Department of Education (DepEd) to overspend in implementing projects.

The actual SEF collection in 2025 was P281,956,491. By law, the SEF is equivalent to 1% of the city’s actual real property tax revenues. It covers school infrastructure, academic and athletic programs such as CVIRAA, and utility expenses including electricity, water, telephone, and internet for public schools.

READ: DepEd fast-tracks rollout of 10,488 classrooms worth P36B

To settle existing obligations, the city has proposed staggered payments to suppliers.

“We have to set our priorities kay kung atoang hutdan tanan [deficit] wala tay mabuhat this year dili kaigo ang pundo. Sinabtanay lang gyud,” Ouano said, adding that they also have to consider future projects while ensuring students’ most urgent needs are addressed.

He added that local government units often shoulder a significant portion of education-related expenses while awaiting assistance and processing from the national government.

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