Compromise

Cebu City Council to include appropriations not part of earlier budget proposal

MEMBERS of the Cebu City Council have finally agreed to push a P7.2billion annual budget for the City Government next year.

Councilors under the majority bloc and some of the members of the minority bloc led by Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña held a caucus yesterday to discuss the budget proposal, so they can approve it during the council’s last session next week.

In an interview, Margot said they agreed to include some appropriations that were not part of the earlier budget proposal pushed by the council’s committee on budget and finance.

Payment to Ting

These include the P30million allocation to pay Roque Ting, whose lot was part of the South Road Properties (SRP), after the court recently ordered the City to pay P57 million to the complainant.

In the budget proposal of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, another P30 million was also allocated for miscellaneous services for the garnishment of the Ting property.

Margot said some councilors convinced Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera to put back the allocation for Ting since the Supreme Court had issued a final and executory judgment on the case.

Margot said the majority bloc also wants to work on a compromise agreement on the payment of the interest to Ting, but since they have yet to start the discussion, an appropriation for the payment was set aside first.

For his part, the mayor said he is glad that Team Rama councilors decided to include the allocation for the payment of the Ting property.

Failure to include it in the budget, Osmeña said, will entail additional interest to the City.

“I’m glad they developed some sense because that alone would have nullified the budget. Imagine? That’s how stubborn and hardheaded Pesquera is. The interest will put up some more. This is not her money. It’s the money of the people. What is she doing? Because of her pride, she will not put it in the budget?” Osmeña told reporters yesterday.

In his news conference last Oct. 10, Osmeña blamed former mayor Michael Rama and Pesquera, who had pushed to bring the matter to court.

Osmeña would have wanted to enter a P13.5million settlement with Ting, but Rama earlier said the City didn’t have to pay because the property in question was underwater.

In a separate interview, Pesquera, who chairs the budget and finance committee, said they included in the budget proposal funds for the purchase of medicines under City Heath Department (CHD) to allow the executive department to implement the Long Life program.

However, Pesquera said the allocation to pay job-order workers who are tasked to deliver the medicines to the beneficiaries was excluded since they want the barangays to do it.

Clarification

Councilor Raymond Garcia clarified that they support the program 100 percent, but the barangays should be given the authority to distribute the medicines to their constituents.

“I did not, in anyway, block the giving of medicines to the residents. I never said that. All I said that let the health centers implement the program because our barangays are already doing it now. They have been trained for it. They are closer to these people who need medicines,” Garcia said.

But for Osmeña, giving it to the barangays will just politicize the program.

The P600-million for the landfill was also not included in the budget proposal.

Garcia said the executive department failed to justify the particulars on where the amount will be spent.

Councilor James Cuenco said the executive just “pluck the figure from thin air” after they failed to provide the program of works and estimates on where the P600 million will be spent.

The council is expected to deliberate and approve the 2017 proposed annual budget on Tuesday.