Budget for allowance of fiscals running low

  CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government is spending almost half a million pesos every month just for the allowance of the 24 members of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

Some speculate this is perhaps why the P2.94 million allocation granted as city’s financial assistance to the City Prosecutors Office that was included in the 2012 Annual Budget had been depleted already.

City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said he is worried after he was informed by City Hall officials that the available balance of their budget for this year is only P147,116.44 thus insufficient to cover the needed monthly allowance of P432,000 or at P18,000 for each of the 24 prosecutors.

The approved budget for the city prosecutors was short after Mayor Michael Rama and the City Council granted the request of the prosecutors to increase their monthly honorarium from P10,000 to P18,000.

Sellon said they still did not receive their allowance for the month of June.  The city prosecutors are asking the mayor to augment their budget with P285,000.

City administrator Jose Marie Poblete said the prosecutors’ request still needs the approval of the mayor.

Aside from the monthly allowance to the city prosecutors, the city is also spending for the monthly allowance of the Regional Trial Court judges, Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals in Cebu City and to Clerks of Courts of the various RTC branches.

The granting of monthly allowance to the judges, equivalent to the amount of their salaries from the Supreme Court, started during the term of former mayor and now Cebu City South district Rep. Tomas Osmeña.

Although some of the city officials described the amount to be excessive, none of them told the mayor to stop granting these huge allowances to the bench.  (FREEMAN)