Rama to buy 2 buses

CEBU, Philippines - The city government will purchase two brand new school buses that can ferry students outside the city like during visits to historical sites.

Mayor Michael Rama’s education consultant, Ester Cubero, said the Cebu City School Board has approved Rama’s plan and that documents for the purchase are now being processed. Each bus is estimated to cost P6 million.

Cubero said Rama himself has observed that school officials often find it difficult to find transportation when there are out-of-city trips or educational activities. In some instances, parents of children share the cost of rental of buses.

Cubero said the initial plan is to assign a bus to each of the city’s two congressional districts, the north and the south.

The cost of the purchase of buses is reportedly part of the P125 million First Supplemental Budget of the City School Board after consuming this year’s approved Special Education Fund (SEF) budget of P218 million.

The SEF is equivalent to one percent of the overall collection of real property taxes of local government units such as those from lands, buildings and machineries.

The move, however, did not fare well with Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña. He said the city still has the buses donated by Kaohsiung, Cebu City’s sister city in Taiwan, as well as the Yokohama buses. 

“What’s wrong with our Kaohsiung?,” Osmeña asked. He also criticized Rama’s travels abroad wherein the mayor reportedly “gets nothing and learns nothing.”

“Recently he snubbed the invitation of Haarlemmermeer to celebrate our 20th anniversary as our sister city,” he added. Haarlemmermeer is in the Netherlands.

He also criticized Rama’s move of buying several brand new vehicles like the planned purchase of vehicles for barangay captains, which is estimated to cost P80 million. He said what the barangays really need are garbage trucks.  (FREEMAN)