Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Cities battered by Frank to get P250T from Tomas
THE Cebu City Government will give at least P250,000 in financial assistance to each of three cities that typhoon Frank hit the “hardest” last month.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña, however, is not giving any to towns and cities under the Cebu Provincial Government that were also damaged by the typhoon, saying the Capitol is “very rich” it could spend for those places.
Osmeña yesterday said the cities of Cadiz, Iloilo, and Roxas need help, so Cebu will help its League of Cities of the Philippines (LMP) co-members.
The amount, he said, could go up depending on the outcome of his meeting with Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the city councilors.
Badly hit
“These three cities, more or less, were badly hit by the typhoon…I just received a message from the president of the league that one city can give to another city from our calamity fund,” he said when asked where the amount will be taken from.
He said he thought of giving P250,000 to each city because the amount cannot be considered small and it will not affect the City’s finances if handed out.
“In the spirit of cooperation, I think we should give…and other (LMP-member) cities will be giving also,” the mayor said.
Also, Osmeña said he will welcome it if Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) will refund part of the City’s expenses incurred during the operation of the disaster action center at the Cebu City Sports Center.
But he admitted he is ill at ease talking about money and reimbursement right now, saying what is important is that the City was able to help.
“Frankly speaking, I don’t like to mix money on this thing. But I think the council has every right to ask Sulpicio to refund us for the actual cash expenses,” he said.
Appropriation
Doubts on how prudently the City has been using public funds to help families of mv Princess of the Stars victims were raised Friday last week before the City Council agreed to appropriate P5.8 million for the action center’s operations.
In that session, the council passed a resolution declaring the entire city in a state of calamity due to tropical storm Frank that hit the country last July 21 and the transport strike Monday last week.
Of the P5.8 million appropriated, Councilor Gerardo Carillo said only P2 million to P3 million will come from the City’s coffers since P900,000 will be from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Around P1.25 million in aid was also promised by the Malacañang to the City for helping the families and relatives of victims.
The council likewise wanted to collect a certain amount from SLI, representing its share in the operation of the action center. (RHM)
