Tom proposes P7.2B budget for next year

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is proposing a P7.2 billion “skin and bone” annual budget for next year.

Several new items were included in the budget proposal. The biggest of these new items is the P600 million for the rehabilitation, remediation or closure of the Inayawan landfill.

The mayor is also proposing another P300 million for the second phase of the construction of the new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC); P807.6 million for the financial assistance for senior citizens in the city; P60 million for the Supreme Court (SC) ordered payment to the Roque Ting property; and the P33 million compensation for the wall of the Iglesio ni Cristo (INC).

Osmeña said his proposed budget is trying to restore basic principles of good governance in City Hall. The budget was submitted last Friday afternoon, October 14.

As expected, the mayor didn’t include the proceeds from the sale of the South Road Properties (SRP) lots last year as part of the sources of funds for his budget proposal.

Instead, the mayor increased revenue collection targets of the city. The bulk of the city’s sources of funds comes from tax revenues at P4.46 billion.

Osmeña’s budget proposal is much smaller than proposals made by the previous administration of former Mayor Michael Rama whose budget proposals in the past six years have reached as high as P18.9 billion.

Osmeña said he believes that “obligatory and no-brainer expenses” should be appropriated first followed by those “within our discretion.”

The bulk of Osmeña’s proposal goes to maintenance and other operating expenditures (MOOE) at P3.85 billion.

Cebu City Councilor Joy Pesquera, who heads the council’s budget committee, said she has yet to review the proposed budget.

But Pesquera admitted that she is not keen on Osmeña’s plan to pay the Roque Ting property which she opposed way back in the early 2000s.