THE Bacolod City Council had approved P2 million for the MassKara Festival celebration and 75th Charter Anniversary of Bacolod City in October, City Vice Mayor Greg Gasataya said Tuesday.
Gasataya made the clarification after learning that the Kasadya Bacolod Foundation Inc. (KBFI) revealed in media interviews that it has P4 million in funds for MassKara and another P1 million for the Charter Day celebration handled by the group of Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue. Officially, the City Council approved only P2 million for the aid assistance for the MassKara and Charter Day celebration, the vice mayor said.
Gasataya, however, said that included in the P50 million appropriation ordinance requested by Bacolod City Mayor Monico Puentevella, which they passed a few months ago, was an additional of about P5 million for donations.
The vice mayor said that the portion of the funds they passed as requested by the Office of the Mayor might had been used for the preparations of the coming MassKara Festival and the Charter Day celebration.
Gasataya said the funds they had approved covered financial assistance to barangays and schools participating in the streetdancing competition, which is the usual practice ever since. The vice mayor also said that the city does not allow turning over of funds directly to foundations like the KBFI which handles the MassKara celebration.
He said all funds appropriated for the forthcoming festivity is either with the Office of the Mayor or had been turned over to recipient barangays.
Gasataya said members of the City Council do not want to intervene with what the Office of the Mayor will do with the funds they requested. On the reported possible request for additional funding by the KBFI, the vice mayor said the foundation cannot directly request it from the members of the City Council, but it is the Office of the Mayor that will do the request.
Gasataya said if the office of the local chief executives sees the initial fund release to be still not enough for the barangays, then they can make a request, as it is the discretion of the mayor.
He explained further that the city can donate funds to private organizations or foundations, provided it complied with requisites of the accounting, Commission on Audit, and other guidelines.