Saturday, September 20, 2008 Tomas to raise funds for ads
EVEN before the investigation on the dengue advertisements could wrap up, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña volunteered to pay for the airing service fee of ABS-CBN Cebu amounting to P313,600.
Osmeña said he could not wait for the procurement procedures to be completed because of the urgent need to air the public advisory on dengue fever.
The commercials have been airing on primetime television since Sept. 3, a transaction covered by a contract the mayor signed last Sept. 1.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez said he has started an investigation to find out why the airing of the advertisements on the dengue prevention campaign were awarded to ABS-CBN without going through the bids and awards committee (BAC).
The contract also did not pass through the City Council for approval.
“I am now investigating it. If it turns out the mayor is not authorized to sign the contract, then the mayor will be personally liable for it. He will have to pay for the ads himself. But if it turns out the airtime is donated by ABS-CBN, then we don’t have to pay,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
The advertisements are aired three times a day and the airing costs the City Government P10,000 per spot.
“If it’s not donated, then somebody should be liable for the airing and whoever it is, it’s most likely the mayor because he signed the contract. But we have to investigate all of this first to find out what really happened,” Fernandez continued.
An account executive from ABS-CBN Cebu’s marketing and sales office confirmed that the contract for the airing of the infomercials has been signed by the mayor.
The airing will be billed and is not donated by the company, said May Salvador.
In a phone interview last night, Osmeña said he will just foot the bill for the commercials, saying the procurement process at City Hall takes too long and would delay much needed intervention for an emergency situation.
“ABS-CBN gave me free airtime for non-prime time slots. But whatever is there, I’ll just pay for it. I don’t wait for City Hall to process all these things because it takes so long. So pasagdi na lang, I will just pay for it na lang,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
When informed that the bill amounts to P313,600 and when asked if he will pay the full amount, he said he will only pay for a fraction of it.
“No, just some. But it doesn’t matter. I can raise the money to pay for it. A lot of people are willing to help with this because this is an emergency situation,” he explained.
The mayor said the death of a 20-year-old female resident of Barangay Labangon due to dengue fever last month prompted him to go ahead with the airing of the commercials.
He said the girl died of dengue despite a massive information campaign in their sitio in Labangon, and the posting of “Danger: dengue zone” signs all over the barangay.
“That’s what pushed me to go ahead with the airing because very clearly, there’s a lack of concern for dengue,” Osmeña said.
During the council session last Wednesday, the approval of a resolution seeking to charge the airtime service fee to the calamity funds was deferred.
Some councilors questioned if procurement rules were followed when they noticed that it did not have supporting documents from the BAC.
Five 30-second commercials were produced by Bigfoot Global Solutions for the City for free, to raise awareness on the dangers of dengue fever.
The mayor believes the commercials are effective in making the public act on the problem. (LCR)
