CEBU City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia has cut the budget allotted for the Palaraong Pambansa 2024.
In a press conference on Monday, June 3, 2024, Garcia revealed that he trimmed down more budget appropriations for hosting the games in July, including removing entirely the budget for the construction of the grandstand extension.
“I have authorized only the charging of P262 million out of the P405 million. There is a cut of P143 million,” he said.
He said there is still a possibility that the authorized budget will still be lower, noting that there will be parties who will place lower bids, like for the rental of portalets and portabaths. Its budget has been slashed from P21 million to P3 million.
Garcia said the budget for the grandstand extension can still be included in next year’s budget appropriations.
He said he also reduced the budget for the side events, from P60 million to P20 million.
He said the budget for the LED walls was also cut by P50 million from its original budget of P135 million.
He explained that his directions for the Palaro are focused on prioritization.
However, Garcia said he could not provide data at this time regarding how much was cut from the supplemental budget and from the general funds.
In a text message on Monday, City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairman of the committee on budget and finance, said the remaining P143 million will be considered as savings.
Sought for comments regarding the budget cut, Mayor Michael Rama, in a phone interview on Monday, said Garcia should be asked if he is already a full-pledged mayor of the city.
”Who is making that direction...is he now a full-pledged mayor?” he said.
He said he is still the elected mayor with over 300,000 votes, adding that he has not even been punished.
Rama and seven city officials are serving a six-month preventive suspension for failing to pay the salaries of four regular city employees
In February, the City Council approved the first supplemental budget for the year 2024, which included a request for an additional budget for the Palaro amounting to P205 million.
The P205 million covers the installation of LED outdoor-field lights at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) amounting to P23 million, the construction and installation of digital-visual LED displays with support frames and posts worth P135.186 million and the construction of the grandstand extension, amounting to P47 million.
In 2023, the City Government appropriated P200 million for the rehabilitation of the CCSC, after closing it to the public in May that year.
In May 2024, the executive department requested an additional P74 million, which was on top of the total P405 million appropriation, for the procurement of benches to be used in the games, but only P65 million was approved.
The Palarong Pambansa, an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from 17 regions of the country, is scheduled to take place from July 6 to 17.
The schedule of events includes the arrival of delegates on July 6 and 7, with solidarity meetings and refresher courses taking place on July 7 and 8.
July 9 marks the opening ceremony at the CCSC, followed by a one-day break on July 10 before the official commencement of the 28-sport competition from July 11 to 15.
The closing ceremony on July 16 is expected to be held at the South Road Properties, the venue of the Sinulog 2024, with athletic delegations departing on July 17.
Cebu City first hosted the Palarong Pambansa in 1954. It again hosted the games in 1994. / AML