Budgets and leaders
The annual budget submitted by local government unit (LGU) executives to their councils can be instructive of the quality of leadership those local governments have. Consider some of the LGUs in Metro Cebu.
Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing submitted a proposed P4-billion budget for 2018, described as the biggest budget proposed by a mayor in that city’s history. The budget also carries a reduced allocation for maintenance and other operating expenses, which means, according to Quisumbing, “less travel and less team-building seminars.
“It is the largest budget in the city’s history but more importantly the largest investment in infrastructure as it includes over P250 million for drainage, primarily in the Paknaan outfall and along Mahiga Creek,” he noted.
Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas is proposing a modest P1-billion budget for his small constituency. While a big chunk of LGU budgets is eaten up by maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE), a part of the budget is still being allocat- ed for the construction of Phase 2 of the Tabunok Public Market and the conversion of the old public market in Barangay Lagtang into a technical-vocational school, plus smaller flood mitigation projects in some barangays.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, meanwhile, is proposing a P6.2-billion budget for his jurisdiction. A bulk would be for the MOOE, debt payment, the usual financial assistance for various sectors, allocation for the Local Development Fund for various minor infrastructure projects and spending for garbage collection and disposal (which includes the rental of garbage trucks and dump trucks).
Considering the proposed annual budgets of the three cities, it is Mandaue City that is aiming high, sort of, spending a big amount of money for major drainage projects. Cebu City, the biggest city in Cebu, is meanwhile seemingly in cruise-control mode, not offering anything major in terms of projects to its constituents. It is not offering anything creative, for example, in solving two problems that have bedeviled the city: flooding and garbage.