Wednesday, November 12, 2008 City budget confusion By Cong B. Corrales
FANCY accounting procedures of the proposed P1.4-billion budget did not pass close scrutiny at the City Council of Cagayan de Oro Tuesday.
Even pro-administration councilors did not like the way the local finance committee chaired by City Treasurer Lino Daral lumped an allocation with the capital outlay of City Hall departments.
Councilor Emmanuel Abejuela said the procedure is open to misuse of public funds.
"Kabalo ko ana nga style (lump sum) kay department head baya ko adtong una. Basta usa ra ka item, kadyut ra na mataguan sa treasurer. Mahimo lang na nga reserve fund sa treasurer og dili na maka-abot sa hintungdang department," Abejuela told Sun.Star.
He said he is against the manner by which the committee submitted the budget for approval.
Abejuela said the committee had lumped more than P8 million that is supposed to be the capital outlay of various City Hall departments with the amount for general public services, he said.
Councilor Ramon Tabor shares Abejuela's view. He said this will confuse department heads who will have no way of knowing if they have already used up their budget.
"Naay instances nga walay mahatag ang budget allocation sa mga departments. This is done to favor other departments," Tabor said.
Opposition Councilor Teodulfo Lao said the budget should be allocated fairly among the departments, especially those tasked with revenue generation.
"Huna-hunaa gud, naa kaha'y kwarta ang city treasurer kun walay klaro ang support services sa city assessment department? Walay real property taxes makuha ang syudad kun wala na (city assessment) nga department," Lao said.
Daral said he will revise the budget proposal so it would meet with the approval of councilors.
Mayor Constantino Jaraula had proposed a P1.4 billion for 2009.
Jaraula is seeking more funds for the payroll of 3,000 employees and for City Hall administrative costs.
He also proposed a P7-million increase in his intelligence funds, a move being opposed by opposition councilors.
Jaraula slashed the budget of some City Hall departments but at the same time allotted P252 million or 18 percent of the budget to pay the outstanding City Government loans.
Grumbling
Atinodoro Asequia, chief of the City Assessment Department, said he wondered why his budget for office supplies was slashed to P500,000 in 2009 from P600,000 this year when prices of office supplies went up by 10 percent.
"Ngano gi-ubos man among budget sa office supplies considering nga mimahal na ang mga supplies karon. Our office isa sa gatabang sa revenue generation sa city," Asequia told the councilors.
Asequia's request for two new motorcycles is still up for deliberation.
Lawyer Maryanne Enteria, the city legal officer, was also dismayed after finding out that some items her office wants to buy next year were taken out.
"Dili ni mao ang nakabutang sa na-approved nga budget namo. The capital outlay which we intend to use to buy law books and motorcycles also disappeared," Enteria told the members of the committee of the whole.
Enteria had proposed an increase in the honoraria of her department's consultants, reasoning that she is the only lawyer at the City Legal Office and needs to hire other lawyers as consultants.
Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya, chair of Peoples Law Enforcement Board (Pleb), was also surprised why payments for insurance premiums of board members were not included.
"Nawala lagi ang insurance premium namo. Kinahanglanon namo ni, sige ra ba mi kadawat og death threats tapos dili mi insured," Nacaya told Daral.
Another victim of the budget cuts is the Municipal Trial Court, a venue for traffic violators and which the City Government is supporting.
The proposed 2009 budget saw a reduction to P487,000 for 2009 from P500,000 in 2008 for the Municipal Trial Court.
Only City Prosecutor Fidel Macauyag appeared to be content with the outcome of the deliberation Tuesday.
The proposed budget gave the City Prosecutors Office P640,000 next year, a slight increase from their 2008 budget of P550,000.
Macauyag said they are hoping that their office will be given two or four motorcycles next year.
"We really need motorcycles for our process servers since we have an average of 30 cases per day and 90 percent of these are all from the city. In the present setup where we mail resolutions, dili pa makaabot ang resolution sa litigants mahuman na ang prescribed period," Macauyag said.
