Saturday, September 13, 2008 Jonas OKs P126.5M SB, vetoes council's condition
MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes signed the first supplemental budget worth P126.5 million, but vetoed a provision in the budget ordinance that requires a council resolution before funds are disbursed.
In his veto message, Cortes said he approved all items in the supplemental budget, but vetoed an “inappropriate rider” in Section 2, because “these programs are not new as these were established long before this chief executive assumed office.”
Covered by the approved supplemental budget are P89.07 million worth of items under the general fund, P19.57 million worth of projects under the Local Development Fund and P7.76 million for hospital services.
The City also allocated P5.586 million for the slaughterhouse, P3.27 million for the public market operations and P1.24 million for the sports complex.
The general fund includes the “non-office expenditures,” where salaries of job-order and program workers are taken. The City allocated P28 million for these programs and projects.
Section 2, which the mayor vetoed, states that funds can only be disbursed using the supplemental budget if there is a “corresponding enabling resolution of the SP (Sangguniang Panlungsod).”
Before passing the supplemental budget ordinance, the opposition-dominated City Council slashed the mayor’s proposal of P205.5 million.
The prominent items deleted from the mayor’s proposed budget were the P10-million allocation for road repairs and maintenance; P18 million for the purchase of heavy equipment; P13.2 million to buy heavy machinery; P16 million for the Geographic Information System and other items in the mayor’s office.
Councilors have said they did not approve the P10-million budget for road repair and maintenance because City Engineer Antonio Sanchez cannot identify which roads in the city need repairs.
But Cortes said Sanchez said they cannot predict which roads will need to be fixed in the next few months.
“Moingon ba diay si engineer ugma ang maguba ang S.B. Cabahug St. mao nang gahinan nato og P1 million? (Do they expect the engineer to predict that, say, tomorrow S.B. Cabahug St. will be damaged, that’s why we need to set aside P1 million for repairs?),” the mayor jokingly told reporters.
Still, Cortes signed the ordinance and assured that vetoing Section 2 will not delay the processing and release of funds in the supplemental budget. (OCP)
