Mike to GSO: Defy council

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has instructed the General Services Office (GSO) to defy the City Council rules on the disbursement of fuel and electricity budget since it is already beyond the council’s powers.

The council, in one of budget ordinances, specified that the utilization of the P100 million for fuel, oil and lubricants should have its approval.

Without the authorization from the council, GSO has processed the request for the purchase of fuel, oil and lubricants for the supply after the month of March.

But the request was reportedly held pending at the City Budget Office, which refused to issue a Certification of Obligation Request (OBR) due to lack of council authorization.

Assistant city administrator Dominic Diño said the budget office may be apprehensive because of the provisions in the budget ordinance.

But he said Rama has a basis to instruct the GSO not to seek authorization from the council because the Budget Ordinance itself is already an authorization.

Diño said they have consulted the matter with the Department of Budget and Management, which gave them a jurisprudence to base their next move.

Supreme Court en banc decision G.R. No. 175527, the Supreme Court states that, “Should the appropriation ordinance, for instance, already contain in sufficient detail the project and cost of a capital outlay such that all that the local chief executive needs to do after undergoing the requisite public bidding is to execute the contract, no further authorization is required, the appropriation ordinance already being sufficient.”

“In cases, for instance, where the local government unit operates under an annual as opposed to a re-enacted budget, it should be acknowledged that the appropriation passed by the sanggunian may validly serve as the authorization required under Sec. 22 (c) of R.A. No. 7160,” the SC decision reads.

Diño said that the budget ordinance indicated that the P100 million is for fuel, oil and lubricant.

“Do we have other purpose intended for the fuel? Or when we indicated a budget for electricity, do we mean any other expense for electricity? Of course not,” he said.

“On the other hand, should the appropriation ordinance describe the projects in generic terms such as “infrastructure projects,” “inter-municipal waterworks, drainage and sewerage, flood control, and irrigation systems projects,” “reclamation projects” or “roads and bridges,” there is an obvious need for a covering contract for every specific project that in turn requires approval by the Sanggunian,” the SC decision further reads.

The provision of the council is seen to add a layer to the City Hall’s bureaucracy.

The provision where the disbursement of the budget intended for the payment of the city’s electric consumption is feared to cause a delay in the payment resulting to the imposition of surcharge by the utility company.

Diño said the provision is confusing because it means that every time the city will process the payment for one electric bill, it must secure first an authorization from the council. The council convenes only once a week.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said the executive department cannot defy the provisions of the ordinance otherwise it may face a case in court.

He said the council also has its own jurisprudence upon which it based its decisions.

Diño, however, said that an ordinance must not contradict a law or jurisprudence. — /LPM (FREEMAN)