Council defers approval of monetary aid to CIPC

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council decided to defer approval of the resolution that will authorize Mayor Michael Rama to sign a contract with the Cebu Economic and Business Foundation for the granting of a monthly P480,000 financial assistance to the said non-government organization.

The Cebu Economic and Business Foundation is the registered name of the Cebu Investment and Promotion Center (CIPC), which is now headed by Joel Mari Yu. Its task is to help market the South Road Properties but failed to find investors during the first year of Rama’s three-year term.

The P480,000 that will be granted to CIPC every month is part of the P4 million monthly share of the Cebu City Government from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

There was no explanation given on why the city legislators deferred the approval of the resolution authorizing Rama to sign into a contract with Yu. But the city councilors are aware that the Commission on Audit (COA) had instructed Pagcor to stop granting the amount directly to the CIPC. 

In the past few years, CIPC, which was founded by Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas R. Osmeña, had been granted financial assistance directly from the city.

Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Cristino L. Naguiat Jr. said the decision to suspend the release of the portion of the city’s share from Pagcor directly to Cebu Economic and Business Foundation is in connection with the memorandum order issued by COA on August 22, 2011.

Naguiat said “Pagcor’s remittance to Cebu Economic and Business Foundation “shall henceforth be discontinued.” However, he assured that his office will resume the release of the amount, but it will be directly to the Cebu City Treasurer’s office after the city submitted the utilization reports of the previously released amounts.

Naguiat had said that the utilization report of CIPC and the City of Cebu of the Pagcor’s donation shall be submitted to COA for further scrutiny.

The guidelines on the use of Pagcor funds state that it should be used only for sustainable economic and infrastructure projects that is essential to the community, including health, and peace and order-related projects.

Pagcor funds are also being used for projects related to emergency assistance to victims of natural disasters and calamities. (FREEMAN)