CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama's proposed budget for 2015 is about three times bulkier than this year's budget. From P5.89 billion in 2014, it bloats into P18.9 billion next year.
Cited as major reason for the strikingly huge increase are two major international events in Cebu City in 2015 and 2016. But proponents say that even for the city's
growing needs alone, ballooning of costs could be justified.
Still, the City Council is expected to examine rigorously the purposes of spending, under the noble purpose of protecting taxpayers' money.
Political motive cannot be ignored though. Opposition leader Tomas Osmeña has been raring since his defeat in 2013 to wrest control of City Hall in the next elections.
He's been throwing all sorts of monkey wrenches at Rama, notably in the City Council where BOPK rules. A super-size budget means a heftier war chest: Rama can push projects that improve city services and boost his chances among voters.
In asking department heads to defend the outlays, can Team Rama convince the City Council that the treasury will have the funds the budget requires? And the political factor will make the job tougher.
Hopes, wishes
BOPK expectedly will ask for "realistic" and solid revenue sources, not a clutch of hopes and wishes lawyers sneer at as remote and "inchoate."
But maybe the mayor is deliberately setting a long stretch but will settle for half the distance.
Still, careful about what he'd ask for: BOPK might grant it so he could look inept and helpless if he couldn't raise the money or wage his program under severe pressure of time and public expectation.
(paseares@gmail.com)