EDUCATION SUPPORT. The Tabuk City government has increased the financial support for 750 teaching and non-teaching personnel to PHP1,000 a month, Mayor Darwin Estrañero said in an interview on Tuesday (June 25, 2024). The city government also provides financial assistance to indigent college students. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The city government has doubled its assistance to 750 employees of the Department of Education (DepEd) assigned to the Tabuk Schools Division office to PHP1,000 a month starting this coming school year.
In an interview on Tuesday, Mayor Darwin Estrañero said the assistance “is just our way of showing gratitude to our DepEd personnel who are the surrogate parents of our children in school.”
He said the city government has allotted PHP9 million for the higher assistance by amending the 2020 ordinance providing a PHP500 monthly assistance to teaching and non-teaching personnel.
“It is now an obligatory expense with its institutionalization. We will continue it,” Estrañero said.
Jesse Maguiya, a teacher at the Tabuk National High School said they receive the assistance every quarter, which he said is a big help with his family’s finances.
“We are thankful that, while the amount is not so big, we are being recognized for our effort by our local government unit,” Maguiya said in Ilocano.
Aid to college students
Aside from DepEd personnel, the city government also provides financial assistance to indigent college students.
Christy Faith Bassong, an incoming second-year college student taking up Criminology at St. Louis College Bulanao in Tabuk City, said she received a PHP5,000 student cash assistance from the local government.
“I have a scholarship from the city government. It is not enough for tuition but it helps me buy uniform and supplies needed in school,” Bassong said in an interview while cooking “champorado” at her aunt’s stall at the “Patawid” (inheritance) trade fair.
The fair was organized by the city government as part of the ongoing 23rd Matagoan Festival and the 74th Foundation anniversary of the establishment of the old municipality of Tabuk.
Bassong, who intends to pursue a law degree, said the financial support from the government is a big help to students like her whose families are hard up sending their children to college.
“We are thankful for the assistance. Because it is school break, I am helping my aunt so that I can have additional money when classes start again,” she said. (PNA)
