People are talking about...
* THE P161.42 MILLION BONG GO REPORTED HE SPENT IN CAMPAIGN. The actual expenses are actually more, as veteran politicians tell us. Most of the money, Bong Go said, came from contributions. The speculations are on the mode of repayment. The ways must include access to the president.
* DUTERTE HAVING LOST HIS ENTHUSIASM TO WORK, ‘DEEPLY’ REGRETTING HE RAN. The president had told us before about being sorry he ran but the talk about loss of enthusiasm is troubling. How would an unenthusiastic president run the country?
Explainer on SRP money
CEBU City Councilor Bebs Andales, author of the series of resolutions that are aimed to strike down the 2015 sale of lots to a group of big business companies when Mike Rama was mayor, argues that the down payment of P8.3 billion cannot be spent by the City Government. He says the Court of Appeals ruling that threw out the petition to stop the spending is not yet final.
That assumes three things: (1) city government operations, including the spending of money, were stopped by taxpayer Romulo Torres’s lawsuit; (2) Torres was winning the lawsuit; and (3) Torres appealed the C.A. ruling.
The decision must have been appealed to the Supreme Court although news stories about the C.A. ruling didn’t say that he did. There is also no news or information that the Regional Trial Court or the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order against the councilors.
What the public learned is that both RTC and C.A. rejected the petition. While the C.A. didn’t tackle the issue on the alleged defects of the sale, indicating that Torres didn’t present a “justiciable” case, the main thrust of the litigation was to prevent the use of the money. And the two courts ruled against Torres and for the councilors, who were the ones sued.
Why then must the city be stopped from doing what it regularly does: routinely run the local government without being paralyzed by the court action, unless the LGU is specifically restrained from doing so? Must the Cebu City Government be impeded in its functions, specifically on the use of the money, when there is no TRO against it and, on the contrary, the court rulings allow it?
What the problem is
The court litigation is not the problem. The dominance of the City Council by BOPK -- whose chief, Mayor Tomas Osmena, is directing the policy on SRP use and disposal – is the problem.
Since the City Council decision is what its majority decides, the SRP money cannot be spent unless the BOPK wills it.
The new mayor can appeal to the “civic-spiritedness” of the BOPK councilors or mobilize public opinion for his projects. He can try to win over some BOPK members to his projects, even without formal defection, or, as Mayor Osmena did before, “pirate” enough councilors to shift the balance to Barug.
Why freeze the money
City Hall watchers wonder how the P8.3 billion from the SRP lots down payment could’ve been labeled as untouchable when after it was paid, it became part of the general fund. To their best knowledge, it was not like the money was segregated from the rest of City Hall’s cash and made a special fund.
If the purpose was to show intent in rejecting the deal, the City Council could’ve decided to sue for declaration of nullity of the contract and deposit the money in court.
To ordinary taxpayers, the down payment could be used and, should the deal be called off, refund the buyers. Thus the persistent suspicion is that BOPK just doesn’t want its rival Barug to get the resources that will help it to win the election and, now, serve the public better.
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