Monday, November 26, 2007 (Philippines)

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia leads the toast at the 25th anniversary gala of Sun.Star Cebu, held Saturday night at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel. (Sun.star photo/Arni Aclao) THE Cebu City Council will start a series of budget hearings today to discuss with department heads the executive department’s proposed 2008 annual budget. The City’s estimated expenditures amount to P2.075 billion under the general fund and P432.644 million under special accounts. Special accounts include expenses for the City Transport system, abattoir, markets, City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec) in Barangay Taptap, housing and hospitals. Debt servicing gets the second biggest allocation, or at least 22.91 percent of the budget. That’s about P77 million less than the approved amount for debt servicing this year. [full story]