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Thursday, December 01, 2005
Mayor assails Cebu SEA Games overspending
CEBU CITY -- Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña vowed somebody will have to answer for the overspending made during the opening ceremony of the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The Cebu City Government allocated only P2 million for the activity, he said, but spent P4 million by diverting the P1.6 million meant for barangay sports activities.
"I have a headache...They would have to be sorted out and some people would be made accountable for not following instructions," he said in a press conference Wednesday.
In a separate interview, Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem said that although the City Council approved P2.4 million for the event, the mayor pledged to give P3 million.
As of Wednesday, the City spent P3.2 million and not P4 million, said Jakosalem, a member of the Cebu SEA Games organizing committee.
Excess funds from the Cebu City Sports Commission were added to the budget, he said, adding that the City Government committed to take care of the accommodations of officials and delegates.
Cebu is hosting six events: pencak silat at the Cebu Coliseum; judo and karatedo, Mandaue Sports Center; sepak takraw, University of San Carlos gym; mountain bike, Danao City; and dancesport, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.
Also Wednesday, Osmeña said he already talked with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal. He blamed the media for Vidal's earlier comment that the money spent for the ceremony's fireworks would have gone a long way to feed the hungry.
He said the cardinal told him he was just answering questions raised by reporters about the two-hour welcome ceremony at the Cebu City Sports Center last Friday.
When told that the cardinal commented that the City should have spent for feeding centers instead of the fireworks, Osmeña said City Hall already spent millions for that.
"Just this week or last week, we spent P2 million to feed the fire victims," the mayor said.
Osmeña added that the city basically gains nothing in terms of international exposure by hosting the SEA Games.
"I committed because we want to be a team player for the Philippines," he said, adding that he wanted to help the President.
He said that except for dancesport, which has a "more international impact," the Games do not happen in Cebu on a regular basis.
"SEA Games here is not going come back in the next 300 years or who knows when. It's not something that we do to institutionalize and it is not a Cebu City event," he said.
He added that Manila did not even give prominence to the Cebu City opening.
However, after the SEA Games welcome ceremony, Osmeña said the event "rehearsal" for the city in staging the important meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders next year.
Cebu, Bacolod and Subic are the three satellite venues for the SEA Games, which brings together national athletes from the 11-member countries of the Asean. (RHM of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(December 1, 2005 issue)
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