Wednesday, June 25, 2008 City’s fuel allocation used up; GSO requests for P36M more
SINCE the Cebu City Government has already used up its fuel allocation for the year, the General Services Office (GSO) asked for P36 million more to cover the months of August to December.
The amount includes a 10 percent projected increase in fuel prices.
Local finance committee members are already meeting to discuss the request, which will be included in the next supplemental budget, said GSO chief Ester Cubero.
“The committee is already meeting. So the supplemental budget will be ready soon,” she said in Bisaya.
Oil products
With the increases in the prices of gasoline products, the City saw the need to hike its monthly allocation for fuel from P5 million to P8.2 million starting last month.
But Cubero said that for July, the fuel budget has already ballooned to P9.15 million as canvassed last June 23.
She said that since preparing the purchase orders for fuel takes three weeks from the time the GSO canvassed prices, there are already fuel price increases within that period that the City has to contend with a lot of underpayments.
Cubero said suppliers will just issue debit memoranda for the City to pay more.
Whatever additional cost could be covered by the P2 million “extra” from the January to June budget and another P6.4 million, which represent the required 10 percent of the monthly fuel budget as “retention amount.”
Retention fund is required to cover underpayments brought about by fuel prices adjustments.
Cubero said she was supposed to submit a P45-million budget; but after deducting the P8.4 million, which she rounded off to P9 million, she merely asked for P36 million as net budget.
Currently several city officials and department heads have opted to use their personal vehicles instead of receiving fuel and the use of government vehicles.
Even Cubero, who decides on the fuel allocation and vehicle designation, uses either her own car or take a cab to work.
For July, she said the City set aside P9.15 million in buying 110,000 liters of diesel and 30,000 liters of gasoline.
As of last canvass by the GSO, the cheapest prices the City Government could get, which are lower compared to pump prices, is P53.21 for diesel and P58.43 for unleaded gasoline.
The City used to buy 140,000 liters of diesel and 40,000 liters of gasoline, but it decided this month to cut off fuel allocation for over 800 of its vehicles and heavy equipment.
The City has also limited fuel assistance for barangay vehicles.
Emergency vehicles getting fuel from the City like firetrucks and police patrol cars, though, were not included in the reduction of fuel subsidy. (RHM)
