By Dhel Nazario
Public elementary students in Parañaque City will begin receiving their monthly allowance in the coming school year, the city chief executive said.
Dr. Anthony Pulmano (TWITTER)
This was done to encourage more students to continue their studies until high school. The city government noted that out of some 60,000 elementary students, only 40,000 of them press on with their high school education due to financial difficulties.
Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez attributed this also to the the effective tax collection by the city's treasurer, Dr. Anthony Pulmano. Previously, only junior and senior high school students were given a P500 monthly allowance.
In an interview with Pulmano, he reported that they were able to collect P7.2 billion out of their target budget last year which was P7.7 billion. Although it was short of P5 million, the city treasurer explained that 20 percent or almost P1.44 billion was not used and only more than P5 billion of the budget was utilized.
Pulmano credited the city’s current financial standing as well to the halt in the one-time real property tax amnesty that they did during the election period. He said that their collection drops during this season because most are waiting for the new administration.
With this, the city will even be providing healthcare assistance to senior citizens and Persons With Disability (PWD) through the distribution of monthly supply of medicines apart from the financial assistance they receive.
City Administrator Ding Soriano on the other hand, recognized the city chief executive's coherent management of public finances.