9 Cebu City brgys given chance to get back aid

Nine barangays in Cebu City have been given a chance to comply with the audit requirements for the release of their disallowed financial aid.

The nine villages— Banilad (P8 million), Busay (P8 million), Kalubihan (P8 million), Kasambagan (P2.2 million), Luz (P2.5 million), Mabini (P62,000), Mabolo (P8.2 million), Mambaling (P10 million), and Sto. Niño (P8 million)—would only get their cash grants back once they submit their budget proposals or development plans, and ask for the council’s approval for the projects that they wanted to use the money for.

They were among the 56 barangays in Cebu City that were ordered to return their unliquidated financial grants that were disallowed by the Commission on Audit (COA) in February 2016.

But only 16 of them complied with COA’s conditions, and managed to liquidate and return the money to the city coffers.

Of the 16, seven barangays will get back their financial aid totaling to P58 million after they submitted their respective proposals or development plans.

The P58 million was included in the P469-million supplemental budget, which is still subject for City Council’s approval. Barangays Buhisan, Capitol Site, Cogon Ramos, Kinasangan, Pahina Central, and Tejero will each get P8 million, while Talamban will receive P10 million.

The seven villages’ financial grants have been set aside for the purchase of garbage trucks and mini dump trucks, for the acquisition of lot for public school building, and for road rehabilitation, among others.

The fate of the other nine barangays, however, depends on the village officials’ will to recoup the money.

Moreover, the city government is currently exploring the possibility of asking anew the City Council for a supplemental budget to help the nine villages in their operational expenses this year.

But Mayor Tomas Osmeña reiterated that the barangays need to specify their purposes through a proposal, otherwise the money will be returned to the city’s General Fund. “Even if we give it (money) to them, they should know by now that they have to liquidate. They should know by now that the mayor is not Mike Rama (former city mayor) where you just can squander the money and nobody knows what happened. So they have to account for everything,” Osmeña said.

COA disallowed “City Barangays-Financial Assistance for Various Projects” due to the lack of authorization from the City Council.

Last year, Osmeña waged a legal battle against the 56 village chiefs for their alleged failure to liquidate the disallowed financial grants.

It was Rama who granted a total of P800 million in cash aid to all 80 barangays in 2015.

Odessa O. Leyson/KBQ