■ AS 2 CEBU CITY BRANCHES STRUGGLE TO COMMUNICATE, BARANGAY TANODS’ PAY HANGS IN THE BALANCE

The lack of communication between the Cebu City executive department and the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) may have caused the delay in the release of barangay tanods’ allowances in Cebu City. Officials of both the executive department and the ABC claimed that they have reached out to the other to settle the issue, to no avail. Councilor Margarita Osmeña said that the executive department has not been remiss in its duties in fast-tracking the release of the P4,000 monthly honoraria of some 1,600 tanods in the 80 barangays. Several village chiefs, most of whom are allies of Barug Team Rama, have cried foul over the cancellation of the allowances of tanods assigned in three barangays. City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) head Garry Lao had recommended cancelling the pay of the tanods from Barangays Mambaling, Paril and Poblacion Pardo for August after the villages failed to submit their weekly consolidated accomplishment reports. Councilor Osmeña said they have been trying to set a meeting with ABC President Philip Zafra to discuss the matter, but the latter reportedly did not confirm any meeting with the executive department. She said there are defects in the master list submitted by the ABC. When asked to comment, Zafra said the ABC has been coordinating with the executive department through Cosap. “We’ll be happy if we could sit down to fast-track the processes but for now, we’ll work with the appropriate agency, which is Cosap,” he said.