Rama keeps mum on budget insertion plan

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama refused to comment on the plan of the City Council to insert in the 2012 annual budget the P133-million money claim of the Ralloses.

Rama said he will leave the city legal office to deal with it as soon as the City Council comes up with a final decision on the matter.

The mayor said he will not prevent the council but definitely, they will have a counter move.

“We will just let them decide first. Ma-prevent pa diay sila?” Rama said.

City Attorney Joseph Bernaldez said the legal team handling the Rallos case will brainstorm when matters reach to that point.

But personally, he believes that the P133-million money claim of the Ralloses is not to be considered a statutory obligation yet because the court decision is still being contested.

“We are talking about finality here. We have filed motion for reconsideration and it is still yet to be decided,” Bernaldez said.

Bernaldez said that on the normal course of budgeting, the council indeed can insert items of the budget only if the item to be inserted is a statutory or contractual obligation. But he said since the judgment of the court is still being contested, such cannot be considered final.

The council is not allowed to insert new items in the budget but they are allowed to slash.

He refused to comment what effect it will cause the pending case because there is no actual insertion yet.

It was Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young who said the council will insert the P133-million payment for the Ralloses in the budget while they also plan to cut the budget by half.

Young said in a report in The FREEMAN yesterday that they need to do it since the decision of the court is final otherwise they might be held liable. They are set to continue deliberating until they are able to pass the budget, they hope, by first week of December. — (FREEMAN)