Joy Pesquera
CEBU City Hall’s budget for next year may be smaller than the P7.2 billion proposed by Mayor Tomas Osmeña depending on how the Team Rama bloc sizes it up.
Councilor Joy Pesquera, who chairs the council’s committee on budget and finance, said the items they will be including in the final budget will have to depend on how much income the city can generate for next year.
“We’re taking into account the statement of our city treasurer during her presentation that they can only achieve 80 percent of their target revenue collection for 2017,” Pesquera said.
Asked if this automatically means that next year’s budget is already expected to be at least 20 percent lower than the proposed P7.2 billion, she said she can’t say for sure.
She said the committee will have more meetings with its members to finalize the city’s budget.
After finishing their budget hearings last week, Pesquera said the committee already started collating the data to prioritize which items to approve in the final draft of the budget.
She said they hope that the final budget ordinance will be approved before the council holds its last regular session this year on December 20.
“Of course (our priorities are) basic services and those for the barangays. We also have to ensure that the items we approve really go to the right persons that should receive the benefits,” Pesquera said.
She also raised concern on the proposal of the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) for a P20 million budget for the hiring of 600 job order personnel (JOs) for the city’s Long Life Medical Assistance Program.
The personnel will distribute maintenance medicines to people in the barangay.
Without a trained pharmacist to assist the delivery of the prescription medicines, she said there could be problems later on.
Sought for comment, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he will have to wait and see what items the council will approve and disapprove.
“My budget is all priority. There’s no capricho (caprices) there. I’m not going to Europe. I’m not going anywhere. The only thing I consider capricho there is the disaster fund because it’s mandated that it has to be five percent (of the total budget),” he said.
He said he will ask the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) that their P350.8 million budget proposal for next year should not just be confined to trainings, though these are important.
Osmeña said he wants to purchase some equipment like water tankers for distribution of potable water to affected areas.
He said he also wants more breathing apparatus for firefighters.
The mayor said he also agrees with the council’s proposal to increase the P5 million proposal for the renovation and rehabilitation of the city’s 11 police precincts.