Surplus fails to impress mayoral bet
GEORGIA Osmeña scoffed at her brother’s gloating over the P3-billion surplus of the Cebu City Government, belittling it as simply the result of “increased taxes, natural attrition and inflation.”
“And I wonder how much of that is reserved for the City’s debt?” she said.
Announcing the budget surplus, Mayor Tomas Osmeña told a press conference recently the City could give the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas a headache if he issued a check and cashed it there.
As of Friday morning, the City had a total of P3.194 billion cash in its depository banks. Osmeña made the announcement, he said, for Cebuanos to see that the City is not bankrupt.
He said he could have the money delivered to City Hall inside an estimated 60 armored vans and display the cash in the lobby of City Hall as a “photo opportunity.”
“Para makit-an sa mga tawo. To see up close what P3 billion looks like,” Tomas said.
His announcement, though, did not convince Georgia, his younger sister.
“It does not reflect the failure of the city administration to deliver basic services and the derelict condition of city streets, standard of living and overall morality,” she said.
She is running for mayor against Vice Mayor Michael Rama, whom the mayor has endorsed.
In a recent gathering, she promised to make her father’s dream for Cebu come true by eradicating corruption at City Hall and practicing good governance.
“Cebu needs a leader who cares about how the City looks, how it is run, and how its resources are managed,” Georgia said.
She narrated that as a little girl, she watched her father Serging commit himself to the service of the city. And like him, she said, she also cares about Cebu “deeply” and the Cebuanos “dearly.”