THE executive department of the Cebu City Government has proposed a budget intended for confidential expenses that is 10 times more than the budget this year.
Under the proposed 2019 annual budget that Mayor Tomas Osmeña submitted, P10 million was set aside for confidential expenses next year, compared to the P1 million approved confidential expenses this year.
The overall proposed annual budget for 2019 is P8.1 billion, or a billion higher compared to this year’s budget.
Kevin Chester Paz, head of the City’s peace and order program, said the confidential expenses allocation in the budget is intended for the mayor’s confidential fund.
“From P1 million, it increased to P10 million. On why it increased to P10 million, because it’s discretionary of the mayor. I can’t tell the whole details because it’s confidential,” he said.
Paz said the mayor determined the amount.
In the past, the Commission on Audit (COA) allowed government agencies to only submit certifications on where the confidential fund was spent, but now it requires government agencies to submit supporting documents to properly account for the expenses.
In a joint circular formulated by COA, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of National Defense and the Governance Commission for government-owned and controlled corporations in 2015, guidelines spelled out stricter accounting and auditing rules to ensure that the funds are used properly.
The same circular also provides that all expenses related to confidential activities will be covered under the confidentiality rule.
For next year, the City allocated a P164-million budget for its peace and order program (POP).
Aside from confidential expenses, other items in the POP with higher allocations include incentives for peace and order personnel serving Cebu City, which is from P58.2 million this year to P65 million next year, and the anti-drug campaign, which is from P5 million this year to P10 million next year, among others.
The City also allocated P3.5 million for the capital outlay for POP, which is intended for the purchase of motor vehicles for barangay tanods.
Police, military snubbed?
However, from P5 million this year, the executive department did not allocate any amount in next year’s budget for training expenses of the police. It also did not allocate for the ammunition supply of the military and police, which is P3.5 million this year.
Out of all the departments, the Department of General Services (DGS) will get the biggest share of the budget with P788 million proposed for 2019.
Of the amount, P220 million is intended for utility expenses, which include payment of electricity and water.
Some P177 million is also allocated for the purchase of gasoline, oil and lubricants of all City-owned vehicles, including police vehicles that the City gave to the Cebu City Police Office.
This year, the allocation is P90 million.
In an earlier interview, DGS chief Ronald Malacora said they will propose a higher budget next year for the purchase of gasoline, oil and lubricants due to the increase in prices of these items.
The committee on budget and finance is set to conduct a series of budget hearings this week to deliberate on the budget proposal.