Council to deliberate budget slash today

CEBU, Philippines - Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña who chairs the City Council’s committee on budget and finance said city council headed by Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young will be having a closed-door deliberation this afternoon to agree on what specific appropriations will be deleted from the final budget.

While she refused yet to give the public advanced information on the amount that they will deduct from the proposed annual budget, Osmeña said the P2 billion estimated revenue from the proposed borrowings and the P3 billion of the various economic enterprise departments shall not be included as sources of funds.

While the Local Finance Committee listed another P1 billion from sales of government lots, Osmeña pointed out that in one of the budget conferences, City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo admitted that only the installment payments of Filinvest Lands Incorporated and SM Prime Holdings Corporation can be surely collected and the amount cannot even reach P500 million.

In yesterday’s budget conference, City Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez who heads the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) was grilled by members of the City Council for more than four hours because of all the departments, the DEPW has the biggest budget allocation with P3,629,969,535.

Most of the budget allocations involved infrastructure projects like drainage improvements, river restoration, channel improvements, road concreting and asphalting, building constructions, purchase of vehicles and heavy equipment, manufacturing of footpaths and several other projects.

Even Enriquez admitted that she cannot cope with the implementation of the projects that were lined up through her office that is why the city legislators were compelled to ask her to identify what projects she will prioritize.

The mayor, through the Local Finance Committee, had proposed a P500 million lump sum appropriation for drainage improvements in various parts of the city to solve the constant flooding particularly in the downtown area.

Of the said budget, Enriquez said the P297 million is allocated for the channel improvement because it was noted that the city’s shorelines, particularly at the entrance of the creeks, are already shallow and needs dredging.

She added that the other P100 million is allocated for drainage improvements and the rest is for the dredging of the creeks.

But Osmeña explained that because the DEPW can’t finish the projects for the first six months of 2012 even if the proposed budget will be approved, she said the City Council may just approve the necessary budget.

Rama earlier said he has over 60 major projects that he wants to implement next year.

But Osmeña said the City Council has decided they will not approve a budget that cannot be attained because the people will just be demoralized if the projects will not be materialized.

Camarillo said because the city’s actual revenue collections is still P3.8 billion as of last month, she expects that the city may only collect about P4 billion by the end of December.

The city legislators also questioned the city engineer about the proposed P120 million for the construction of a new building for some City Hall departments that do not have its own buildings, and the P150 million budget for the expansion of the Cebu City Medical Center.

Enriquez said that the proposed expansion of CCMC shall be done at the back of the existing hospital building but the 1,500 square meter lot is being occupied by squatters.

Councilor Sisinio Andales who used to be the barangay captain of Pahina-San Nicolas where CCMC is situated, strongly opposed the plan.

“You scrap that budget Kenneth! We will not approve that budget!” he shouted at the city engineer, while his fellow city legislators just laughed at him. “Dili unta kadto angay niya nga buhaton nga maningka kay dili man siya ang City Council, but he can suggest,” another councilor said.

The other proposed budgets that were questioned by the City Council include the P60 million for the construction and renovation of various fire stations, construction of a “Pasalubong Center” and park at Ramos market that cost P20 million, construction of a P70 million warehouse of City Hall at the South Road Properties, and the manufacturing of 233,000 pieces of footpaths.

Councilor Edgardo Labella warned the DEPW officials from spending too much for the manufacturing of thousands of footpaths without proper study because it can be considered a waste of funds if it will not be used.

Engr. June Nadine Sison said as of October the request for footpaths that they have received already reached 115,000. (FREEMAN)