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Saturday, February 25, 2006
CH ‘needs to pass’ additional budgets
By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Aledel G. Cuizon
This year will be a busy and costly one for the City Governments of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu as they prepare for the 12th Asean summit.
But Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña assured residents the City will also reap the rewards and revenues he earlier promised to raise from the South Reclamation Project.
Since the City is operating on a limited budget this year, Osmeña said the City will have to approve several supplemental budgets to fund the expenses for the summit.
“We’ll have plenty of supplemental budgets because our budget right now is very modest. For sure, the National Government will take care of the hotels and food, but we will take care of the party time of the foreign media,” he told reporters yesterday.
The City Council already approved the 2006 General Fund amounting to P2.28 billion, which does not include yet the funds needed for the hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in December.
Amid reports of coup attempts in Manila, the City celebrated its 69th Charter Day at the City Hall yesterday early morning, which hundreds of city officials and employees attended.
In his Charter Day message, Osmeña urged all City employees to cooperate and work together in ensuring the success of the Asean summit.
Foreign media
He briefed the city councilors, department heads, employees and Cebu City Traffic Operations Management personnel of the City’s tasks during the event.
Aside from traffic management, peace and order and beautification projects, the mayor also volunteered to attend to the rest and recreation needs of the foreign media.
“This is a blessing, this is a curse, this is a headache but it can also be rewarding. Whether we like it or not, or whether Manila likes it or not, we have become the capital of the Philippines,” he said in his Charter Day message.
For his part, Lapu-Lapu City Police Chief Louie Oppus is “mentally preparing” his personnel for the big event, saying this is not like the annual fiesta.
Oppus said a huge chunk of the responsibility in hosting the summit is with Lapu-Lapu City because this is where the delegates arrive, at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
They will also be billeted in the resorts and hotels in the city.
Lapu-Lapu City police will also be involved in securing the routes from the airport and hotels to the venue of the summit.
Oppus prefers that a holiday be declared in Metro Cebu so that traffic will not be so congested.
Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, for his part, attended a recent conference held in preparation for the summit.
Task force
Like other local government units directly involved in the hosting of the summit, Mandaue will help by augmenting personnel who might be needed for the activity.
Last month, Ouano created Task Force Asean Summit to focus on the preparation and implementation of the city’s beautification, cleanliness and infrastructure enhancement programs for the summit.
A technical working group (TWG), composed of representatives from the City Planning Office, City Engineering Office, Housing and Urban Development Office, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of Public Works and Highways, was also created to provide technical support to the task force.
SRP status
Despite the amount of work that needs to be done for the summit, Osmeña assured the City will not neglect the multi-billion South Reclamation Project (SRP).
He gave the employees an update of the status of the SRP, including possible investors who want to locate to the area and help generate jobs for the Cebuanos.
“There are still debt services that have to be paid, otherwise we will lose the whole property. We still have debts of some P4 billion but I’m prepared to deliver (the payments) this year. We will bring in more money and not only that but also jobs for our people,” he said.
After his speech, the mayor and members of the council released pink and white balloons, which they offered to the Sto. Niño for the success of the Charter Day program last Wednesday night, which also served as the dress rehearsal for the summit.
They also witnessed the parade and review of Citom personnel at the City Hall grounds.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 25, 2006 issue)
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