NEWS FEATURE

High power costs in Occidental Mindoro drain school budgets

BY CHRIS BURNET RAMOS | NOVEMBER 20, 2023

“Wala kaming magawa. Kapag dumating yung bill, kailangan naming bayaran,” said Mamburao Central School principal as school maintenance gets compromised after high electric bills drain their annual budgets. | via Chris Burnet Ramos

Instead of prioritizing the allocated budget for unrepaired buildings, congested classrooms, and in-service training for teachers, the annual budgets of some elementary and high schools in Occidental Mindoro are being drained to high power cost in the province.

Marielle Balutan, a 21-year old graduating elementary education student, finished her field study observation course at San Vicente Elementary School in Sta. Cruz, Occidental Mindoro. Just for almost three weeks of training this September, she had already witnessed the shortage of facilities in the institution.

The school only caters one restroom for hundreds of its students, with only a sprinkling of individual restrooms per classroom, Marielle told Twinkle. Ventilation systems are inadequate for pupils and classroom lights are not well-lit, while electricity systems overnight are powered by solar panels.

According to the country's Basic Education Report in January 2023, Education Secretary Sara Duterte noted that out of 327,851 public school buildings, 100,072 need minor repairs, 89,252 need major repairs, and 21,727 are set for condemnation.

This is similar to what Mamburao Central School (MCS), in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro, Principal III Emelita Dela Rosa had disclosed on how maintenance and repair budgets on the elementary school are being set aside to prioritize their high monthly electricity bills.

The current power rate charge for public buildings in the province costs P19.7698 per kWh, almost doubling than the August power billing of only P10.1736 per kWh. MCS, which caters to around 2,000 elementary students, had to pay almost P70,000 for the sole October monthly bill—more than double its normal monthly bill of around P29,000.

The budget supposedly allocated for the school’s programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) is being ‘sacrificed’ just to bear the overhead expenses of the high power bill, said the school head.

“Sobrang laking epekto nito. Yung mga bagay na gusto kong gawin sa pangangailangan ng mga estudyante at teacher, dito [electric bills] na lang napupunta. Napaka-unfair,” said Dela Rosa.

If the school will continue to bear its current monthly electric cost for the next 10 months, it will already cover P700,000 (almost 40%) from their P1.877M budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE). This supposedly prioritizes financing the school’s unrepaired buildings and congested classrooms.

Compressed school operations

The school administration is still consulting to submit a formal request to the Department of Education (DepEd) Occidental Mindoro for a 4-1 school schedule scheme, wherein 4 days (Monday to Thursday) will be for in-person learning while Friday classes will be for modular learning modality.

Occidental Mindoro National High School (OMNHS), the biggest high school in the province by population, also suffers a looming drain of their P10 million MOOE budget by December due to a 100% increase of power bill.

The school’s monthly electric bill catapulted to P310,000 in October from P145,000 last August, which reflects a P3 million monthly power expense for 10-month time, said OMNHS Principal II Marivel Aguda.

With around 6,000 learners, and 250 teachers and non-teaching personnel affected, OMNHS has also submitted a formal request to DepEd for the same compressed school schedule.

DepEd to give go signal to proposed shifting to blended learning

DepEd Occidental Mindoro Division Schools Superintendent Loida Adornado said that the agency understands the problems of the municipal schools in requesting for compressed schedules as they cannot augment the school’s MOOE budget unless given emergency funds by the government.

She also assured that once modular classes will be reimplemented, “learning will not be hampered,” unlike former criticisms of the modality during the pandemic where parents allegedly answer student modules themselves.

Expecting other schools in the province to file similar requests, Adornado advises school heads to come up with their respective austerity measures and craft solutions towards addressing the high power rate, including provisions of open ventilations, decongestion of classrooms, and wearing of comfortable clothings during school hours.

Provincial action

Occidental Mindoro Governor Eduardo Gadiano already mandated a compressed workweek arrangement policy for the province’s government officials and employees to lessen high electricity charges and conserve fuel consumption in provincial and municipal offices.

By November 6, all government offices in Occidental Mindoro were required to only operate from Monday to Thursday for their 40-hour workweek schedules instead of maximizing the whole week operations until Friday.

The doubled to tripled electricity charges in the province were caused by its lone power provider, the Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corporation (OMCPC), entering emergency power supply agreement (EPSA) on April, which vests no entitlement of any government subsidies in the electric charges of around 83,000 households in Occidental Mindoro.

This is after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) denied OMCPC’s provisional authority due to the unfinished construction of one of its three power plants, bundled under the current power supply agreement.

Gadiano once gave the power provider a grace period until the end of the year to start the operation of the power plant; otherwise, a competitive selection process (CSP) for a new power provider will be lobbied by the local government and OMECO.

Occidental Mindoro Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Power Co-Chairperson Cirilo Tejoso Jr. told Twinkle that the provincial government also campaigns the proposed compressed schedules of municipal schools in the province, addressing high power costs while upholding quality education to all children of Occidental Mindoro.