In question

Executive department to look into validity of Margot O’s 2016 budget ordinance

CEBU City Hall’s executive department will scrutinize the ordinance covering the more than P6.4-billion annual budget of the City Government for next year.

Although it has not yet received an official copy, among the issues it will raise is whether the budget ordinance authored by Councilor Margarita Osmeña is valid.

The nine-member majority bloc lacked one vote to get the majority of the 18-member council to pass it.

“Ang mahitabo ani, studyohan pa gyud ni kung unsaon ni pag- handle (What will happen is we will study how to handle this),” said City Administrator Lucelle Mercado in an interview yesterday.

Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella said he will refrain from commenting on the matter until he gets an official copy of the budget ordinance.

Two interpretations

Mercado, a member of the local finance committee, said the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Budget and Management have different interpretations on whether a budget ordinance is passed with an “absolute majority” or a “simple majority.”

Nine-member BOPK majority bloc lacked one vote to get majority of 18-member council to pass the ordinance

Councilor Gerardo Carillo raised issue on how many votes were needed to pass a budget ordinance in last Friday’s deliberation

If budget is declared ineffective, Cebu City may end up working on a reenacted budget

An absolute majority means the number of votes cast is more than half (50 percent plus one) of the total member of council, which means there should be at least 10 votes.

A simple majority, on the other hand, means the votes cast is majority of all members present in a session.

Mercado met with members of the local finance committee yesterday along with the City Legal Office to discuss the annual budget.

The council passed the budget ordinance covering the 2016 annual budget last Friday in a 9-4 vote.

Those who voted for it were Councilors Osmeña, Eugenio Gabuya Jr., Alvin Dizon, Lea Japson, Nida Cabrera, Sisinio Andales, Roberto Cabarrubias, Alvin Arcilla and Mary Ann delos Santos.

Comparative study

Those who voted against due to some concerns were Councilors Philip Zafra, Noel Wenceslao and Gerardo Carillo. Absent were Councilors Hanz Abella, Richard Osmeña and James Cuenco.

Carillo first raised the issue on how many votes were needed to pass a budget ordinance during last Friday’s deliberation.

“If it is short one vote, it could now be an ineffective ordinance,” he had said.

If the budget ordinance is declared ineffective, Mercado said, the City might have to work on a reenacted budget.

But she said the matter is being looked into.

Mercado said they had asked the City Budget Office to make a comparative study between the P13.4billion annual budget this year and the 2016 annual budget.

“Let’s determine which is more advantageous for us and for the City. Many angles will have to be considered, but the priority is the welfare of the constituents,” she said in Cebuano.