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Thursday, August 28, 2003
Kusug councilors to get new cars too
By Jasmin G. Suma-oy
CEBU -- With a few amendments and without any disagreement, Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s proposed third supplemental budget of P397 million for 2003 was approved Wednesday by the Cebu City Council.
According to Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, it was agreed that the five members of the minority bloc will also get new service vehicles.
The mayor earlier said he might not issue new vehicles to the opposition councilors if they continue to block his projects.
But Pesquera told Sun.Star Wednesday that City Administrator Juan Saul Montecillo was a witness when Osmeña, in their final meeting on the proposed budget, approved the assignment of new cars to members of Kugi Uswag Sugbo.
“The mayor asked me if former mayor Alvin Garcia recalled our issued cars after the breakup (of Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan) and I said no. Although it was not in writing, Juancho (Montecillo) was there when he said okay,” Pesquera said.
The lump sum appropriation for the purchase of motor vehicles was increased from P16 million to P16.5 million. That means each of the 18 local legislators are equally appropriated P900,000, the price ceiling of the vehicles they will buy.
Renovation
In a separate interview, Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said the councilors may buy the same type of pick-up. The Ford Ranger that he prefers costs P940,000 each, but if they buy 18 units, Jakosalem said, they may get a discount.
During the City Council session, an obviously disappointed Vice Mayor Michael Rama, however, raised that the budget set aside for the renovation of the City Hall main building was too small for the requirements of the project.
Pesquera, chairperson of the committee on budget, said the existing budget of P12 million was only augmented by P4.6 million, instead of exactly P5 million.
“It would appear that I’m not for the building,” she said, but explained that the rest of the amount was used to increase appropriations for the conversion of employees’ leave credits and the development of the center island of Imus Ave.
“No, not you (Pesquera). We already discussed it with the executive department. I don’t understand what kind of renovation we will have with this budget,” Vice Mayor Rama said.
Pet project
The renovation of the old City Hall building, now called the Legislative Building, is Rama’s pet project.
Pesquera revealed she requested P55 million but the mayor said they will just appropriate a small amount until the City Council can submit the program of works and estimate (Powe).
Councilor Nestor Archival pointed out they cannot submit the Powe until the architects finalize the design.
“The budget could just have been appropriated. Anyway, it will not be spent (until everything is finalized),” Rama said.
The vice mayor did not object to the approval of the supplemental budget, though.
As part of the amendments, the P465,000 budget for the purchase of cellular phones for department heads and other officials was deleted.
The committee on budget and the local finance committee decided instead that they will just request a unit upgrade with their service providers.
SRP costs
The P2.2-million appropriation to buy the lot of Roque Ting, as “incidental expenses” for the South Reclamation Project (SRP), was reduced to only P1.
(Under budgeting rules, the council can realign budget items, but not delete them, hence the “token” P1.)
During the budget hearing of the councilors last Tuesday, it was discussed that the City will be paying for the demolished structure and not for the lot.
The Department of Public Works and Highways is supposed to pay for it, but reportedly ran out of funds.
Councilor Gabriel Leyson cautioned the City against paying because it may set a precedent, and other persons whose properties were affected by the project might also demand compensation from the City.
Also, since there were questions on the outstanding loans of the City for the SRP, it was agreed that Montecillo will make a presentation on Sept. 2.
At least P105 million, or roughly 27 percent of the approved budget, will go to the payment of the loan interest and other fees for the SRP. Sun.Star Cebu
(August 28, 2003 issue)
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