CEBU, Philippines - A Talisay City aspirant for councilor has criticized the way the present administration allocate and spend the city’s annual budget, saying only very little of it goes to the barangays.
“There is no clear picture how the city budgets its funds, wa man sab gani klaro kung pila ang para sa mga barangay anang naa sa annual budget. So ang mahitabo, dili sulit ang panerbisyo nga moabot sa barangay,” Arnie dela Torre, a Liberal Party candidate for councilor, said.
Dela Torre, who is the barangay chief of Cansojong, said that in the people in his barangay, for instance, do not see the basic services from the city, save for some minor projects.
He said, from the P377.2 million annual budget last year, Cansojong got “only” a P290,000 in assistance for the purchase of the barangay’s garbage truck worth P490,00; and a road repair project in front of the house of city Councilor Ronnie Capala.
The barangay chairman described that amount a “pittance” coming from the P377.2 million. The same also goes to the rest of the city’s 22 barangays, especially to those which have no direct connection to the city hall, he said.
Dela Torre said the problem could only be traced to the preparation of the annual investment plan (AIP), which is the basis for the formulation of the annual budget. The city’s AIP, he said, should be based on barangays, what these areas need, considering that they are the supposed recipients of government funds. But during the planning, no barangay official is called out to participate in it, hence, problems in barangay level, like, road repair, health, among many others, are not properly addressed, the barangay chief added.
Dela Torre cited the hiring of “too much” temporary workers or “job order” employees, there are already more than 800 of them (or a total of P3 million of monthly salary); the health cards, which have been “abused”; the giving of cash assistance at the mayor’s office, among others. For this year’s annual budget of P422 million, P13 million of which goes to the office of the mayor’s intelligence fund.
He said the city has millions of income each year, but there are still at least 13,000 families that are homeless, as registered by the Local Housing Office, excluding those thousands of unregistered. This is also not to mention the high malnutrition rate, which means the city is still swarming with poor inhabitants, he said.
“There should have been long-term plans. But as we all know, there’s none.
Silang tanang naglingkod diha ron, nag-ayahay lang og padatu sa ilang kaugaligon, mahinumdum lang og hatag og projects kung duol na ang eleksyon,” dela Torre said. – THE FREEMAN