Monday, December 17, 2007
Council allocates P2.1M for codification project
AFTER several postponements, the Cebu City Council last week approved a P2.1-million donation to the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), which is undertaking the last two phases of the legislative body’s codification project.
Questions were raised when the measure was first brought to the council for approval last Oct. 10 because some councilors thought that they already appropriated P1 million for the project’s last two phases in February.
After that session, the measure, sponsored by City Councilors Edgardo Labella and Eduardo Rama, was included in several succeeding sessions but was always deferred until last Wednesday, when it was approved with nary a squeak from any member.
The council also approved another measure authorizing Mayor Tomas Osmeña to enter into an agreement with the USPF for the donation.
Capital
In November last year, the council charged P820,000, which the mayor approved, against the City’s capital outlay for the phase 1 of the project.
The terms of reference said the winning bidder should produce the digital images of all city ordinances from 1945 to June 30, 2004. Programmers stored the digital images in a database and compact discs.
Last February, the council set aside P1 million supposedly for the last two phases, which involves the classification, codification, publication and adoption by the council.
The amount was for supplies and for wages of the project team’s consultant, assistants, researchers and encoders.
Agreement
In an interview, Labella said the amount was only for phase 1 so there is a need to allocate P2.1 million for phases 2 and 3.
The councilor heads the council committee on laws, ordinances, public accountability and good government.
According to the memorandum of agreement’s (MOA) terms and conditions, the City will give P2.1 million as donation for the USPF’s “codification of ordinances promulgated by the Cebu City Government.”
And while USPF was supposed to spend P210,000 as its counterpart for the project as stipulated in the original MOA, the provision was removed in the agreement approved last week.
It was also agreed that the USPF submits “monthly accomplishment reports or progress reports” until the completion of the project “within six months.”
Labella said a commission was also created to monitor the progress of the project “to ensure that (it) proceeds according to the work and financial plan and that expected deliverables are accordingly produced.”
Cost
As proposed by USPF president Alicia Cabatingan, phase 2 would include research team organization and mobilization for P200,000; ordinances categorization, review, encoding, and copyediting (P400,000); segregation (P200,000); and code book drafting (P300,000).
Phase 3 will include revision editing and incorporation (P100,000); page laying out (P200,000); footnotes, code kits preparation, printing, bookbinding (P300,000); capability training, code application, information management, and website launching (P300,000); and turn-over and recommendation for adoption and legitimization of the Cebu City Code Books (P100,000). (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (December 17, 2007 issue)
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