MANILA, July 17 (PNA) — Over P600 million quick response fund was released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Department of Education (DepEd) for repair and rehabilitation of schools damaged by tropical storm “Glenda”.
“What we’re focusing on are the (school) divisions we think are heavily devastated,” said DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro on Thursday.
Luistro added that they plan to use the majority of the quick response fund to those schools heavily damaged by the typhoon.
The DepEd chief urged school division chiefs to take responsibility and help in the rehabilitation of their schools especially those which suffered minimal damage.
“Our system here in DepEd especially in times of rehabilitation in a larger scale is that we advise principals and divisions to urge their respective barangays and PTA (parents-teachers association) to give assistance in the recovery of their schools especially those with minimal damage so that the DepEd could allot more budget to schools heavily inflicted by the typhoon,” he said.
Luistro explained that once the quick response fund had been consumed and fully utilized, the amount will be replenished like a revolving fund.
The DepEd has been planning to focus more on Regions IV-A and IV-B, and other areas heavily devastated by “Glenda”.
“We would like to concentrate more on (Regions) IV-A and IV-B, especially those areas under state of calamity. We also base our level of assistance on areas given focus by news reports which are said to be heavily damaged like Gumaca,” he said. (PNA)