Mayor requires council to get his approval

MEMBERS of the Cebu City Council will need the approval of Mayor Michael Rama if they want to hire a consultant or spend on advertisements next year.

The mayor placed the P3.1-million proposed budget to cover the payment of the consultants of the 18 councilors under the account of the Office of the Mayor.

He also cut down the council’s P3-million proposed budget for advertising to only P300,000.

In his regular news conference yesterday, Rama said all the consultants of the councilors will have to go through him.

He said the P3.1-million proposed budget for the councilor’s consultants was still
included in the proposed P6.7-billion budget for 2013.

Tit for tat?

“Of course, dapat naa na sila (they will need) authority from me,” he said.

Just recently, the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kasuwagan (BOPK)-dominated council cut the services of two of Rama’s consultants: former city councilor Edwin Jagmoc and broadcaster Antonio Avila.

It did not renew the consultancy of Jagmoc and Avila for July to December.

Jagmoc was Rama’s consultant for the Department of Public Services, while Avila was the consultant on broadcast and media affairs.

Rama also said his office will handle the council’s advertising expenses. “I am just exercising my prerogative,” he said.

The advertising budget is supposed to cover the council’s advertisements of newly approved ordinances in newspapers, as well as its television program, “City Council Reports,” on the Cebu Catholic Television Network.

Extra needed

Asked if he will also scrap the program, Rama said he’s not thinking about it yet.

When he learned about these developments, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus warned the mayor not to regret his actions.

Meanwhile, Rama said he is expecting more supplemental budgets next year, considering his proposed 2013 budget is only P6.7 billion, much lower than the expected P13 billion.

The proposed 2013 budget has already been submitted to the council and will be deliberated in the coming sessions.