Office of the President approves Cuenco’s request

ONE hurdle against the holding of the Banawa-Englis plebiscite has been surmounted.

Malacañang has approved the request for funding made by Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district).

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Cuenco, in an interview, said the Office of the President approved his request for P1.458 million for the plebiscite, which is scheduled on Feb. 28.

He said Department of Budget and Management Sec. Rolando Andaya told him yesterday the check was ready; all that is required is for the Comelec to write a formal letter requesting for the amount.

The Comelec must do so within the week because it is required by law to inform the public about the plebiscite by publishing it in local papers at least 15 days before the schedule.

Cuenco said he will ask Deputy Executive Director for Operations Bartolome Sinocruz Jr. to immediately make the letter, which should include a breakdown on how the money should be spent and to whom the check should be issued.

In a Jan. 15 urgent memorandum, Sinocruz said the estimated expense for the plebiscite is P1.458 million, which should be charged to the Comelec’s Contingent Fund.
He, however, said the fund has been depleted; thus, it cannot finance the holding of the plebiscite.

“Upon verbal inquiry, the Budget Division, Finance Services Department, replied that the Commission has no appropriation to defray the expenses to be incurred in the conduct of the plebiscite,” he said in his letter.

That prompted Cuenco to write President Gloria Arroyo asking that Malacañang lend the Comelec the money.

He asked that Arroyo advance the P1.458 million due to the urgency in holding the plebiscite.

In a letter to the President dated Jan. 21, he said the Comelec is still awaiting the release of its budget under the General Appropriations Act, which she has yet to sign that time.

The Comelec set the schedule for the plebiscite after Republic Act 9905 or “An Act Creating a Barangay to be known as Barangay Banawa-Englis in the City of Cebu” was published last Jan. 11.

The law took effect last Jan. 26 or 15 days after its publication.

Section 3 of RA 9905 states that the special election of the first set of barangay officials be held “within 60 days after the ratification by the majority of the votes cast in the plebiscite.”

RA 9905 specified 57 “puroks” or neighborhoods under the new barangay, and identified natural boundaries, specifically the bodies of water like rivers and creeks, to delineate its territory to avoid conflict over jurisdiction.

It also identified the seat of government of the new barangay as the old Sitio Banawa.

Guadalupe, the biggest barangay in Cebu City and in the whole Visayas, has a population that is three times bigger than most barangays in the city.

According to the National Statistics Office, the current population of Guadalupe is around 47,700, with Banawa and Englis residents totaling over 23,700.

If majority of Guadalupe residents will agree to the separation, it would be a fulfillment of the clamor for Sitios Banawa ang Englis to separate from Guadalupe, since 1987.

On Dec. 18, 1996, the City Council approved Ordinance 1661 or “An Ordinance Dividing Barangay Guadalupe, Defining and Delineating the Boundaries of the Subdivision, Setting-up and Providing Resources and Assistance to the emerging New Barangay on its Initial Corporate Existence.”

Then city councilors Michael Rama and Ronald Cuenco, the congressman’s son, authored the ordinance.

The plebiscite for Ordinance 1661 was postponed three times and was eventually not pursued because of objections by Guadalupe officials.

Last Sept. 30, 2008, after the council again failed to set the plebiscite, Cuenco filed House Bill 5234, which eventually became a law. (RHM)