Work around your budget

Thursday, January 26, 2012

COUNCILOR Margarita Osmeña said Cebu City Hall departments should spend only what they have.

But Osmeña, chairperson of the City Council's committee on budget and finance, said she expects more departments to come out and complain about the slashed budget.

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The Department of Manpower Development and Placement and the City Health Department (CHD) complained that their services will be affected by the slashing of their maintenance and other operating expenses budget.

The executive department proposed an P11.8-billion budget for this year, but the City Council approved only P5.2 billion.

“They should not count what they don't have,” said Osmeña.

Besides, she said, CHD Chief Dr. Stella Ygoña is allegedly “inconsistent” about her department’s budgetary allocation.

To support her claim, Osmeña showed Sun.Star a transcript of the budget hearing with the CHD.

She said Ygoña had told the council that the bulk of the P133 million proposed by the CHD for drugs and medicines was meant for the PhilHealth accreditation of barangay health centers.

But, Osmeña said, City Mayor Michael Rama plans to enroll more residents in PhilHealth and they would prefer to go to hospitals. So, fewer constituents would want to go to barangay health centers, she added.

This is why the council cut the proposed P133-million allocation of CHD, she said.
About 38,000 indigent families in Cebu City have been enrolled in PhilHealth.

During a press briefing with City Hall reporters last Tuesday, Ygoña lamented that the council slashed the CHD’s proposed P133-million budget for drugs and medicines to P20 million.

She said the budget cut would compromise several services, like maternal and health care, and the anti-rabies program. The budget for these programs was cut by P10 million, she added.

Ygoña said the budget cut also meant that Operation Tuli can only service 20 boys per barangay instead of the average 6,000 for every barangay.

Osmeña said the council slashed the executive department’s P11.8-billion proposed budget because it was not able to show that City Hall has enough revenues to finance the annual appropriation.

“We don't have P11.8 billion but P5.2 billion is still the biggest budget in the history of the Cebu City Government,” said Osmeña.

She added that the council did not delete any item in the budget but just authorized the City to spend P5.2 billion.

If the City can raise enough funds, she said, the executive department can always go back to the council—even next week—to propose a supplemental budget.

Until then, she said, departments should find creative ways to continue their services to the public.

As for Operation Tuli, Osmeña said, there are many private firms that provide free circumcision and the CHD can be a partner to continue its services despite its reduced budget.

Ygoña said she would do just that.