|
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Talisay braces to guard city status, funds against ‘attack’
Talisay officials were unfazed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s petition nullifying Talisay’s status as a city, saying they saw it coming and are ready for it.
While Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez kept mum on the issue, City Administrator and Legal Officer Aurora Econg said they will answer the petition in court once they get a copy of it.
“It’s plain and simple harassment,” said Econg yesterday.
Osmeña, for his part, will subject to public judgment Cebu City’s call to nullify the law declaring its neighbor a city, by publishing the petition in the newspapers.
He revealed the City will also file a separate motion in court for the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) 7 to release Talisay’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the national taxes as a town, not as a city.
“I will have the case published so the people will be able to analyze the facts,” Osmeña said in his press conference yesterday.
Boundary dispute
Critics see the petition as a mere harassment ploy, after Osmeña and former Talisay City mayor Eduardo Gullas (now congressman for Cebu’s first district) tangled over Talisay’s claim on part of the 295-hectare South Reclamation Project (SRP).
The claim was first made when Gullas was outgoing mayor of Talisay, and has, since then, caused numerous exchanges of bitter words between him and Osmeña.
Delays in getting the SRP’s titles have prevented Cebu City from selling portions of the property, whose income is needed to help pay for the P6.3-billion SRP debt.
But Talisay barangay officials believe that the petition questioning Talisay’s status as a city will do more harm than good for Cebu City Councilor Gabriel Leyson, if he pushes through his mayoralty bid in 2007.
Income share
Talisay Councilor Osmundo Manreal Jr., Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president, said the petition could encourage Talisaynons to unite against those who have any ill motives against the city.
“The Talisaynons love this city. I don’t think that they will agree to go back to the old municipal status,” he added.
Talisay became a city by virtue of Republic Act 8979, written by Gullas, who became the city’s first mayor.
Talisay used to receive about P46.57 million in IRA shares each year, but this ballooned to P161.9 million when it became a component city.
“The illegal participation of Talisay in the rank of qualified cities, to a large extent, prejudices the income of the City of Cebu as it effectively decreases its internal revenue share,” the petition added.
“The fewer the number of cities that participate and stake a share, the larger the allocation the participating cities receive as share from particular national taxes for their constituencies,” it added.
Cebu City likewise asked that Talisay be ordered to return to the National Government the difference in the amount of IRA it received since 2001.
In the petition, Cebu City alleged that Talisay used a projection of what Talisay’s population would be by Feb. 1, 2000, when compliance with the population requirement should be “based on verifiable indicators.”
In its official website (www.talisaycitycebu.gov.ph), Talisay acknowledged the National Statistics Office (NSO) indeed recorded that its population in 2000 was just 148,110—short of the required 150,000.
But it explained that NSO conducted a special census in May 2000, for Talisay’s application to become a city.
And based “on the number of residents working and studying in other component cities and residential subdivisions of Talisay City,” the special census yielded a population of 150,238. (GC/RHM)
(August 25, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
