ZAFRA
CEBU City councilor Margarita Osmeña said the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) has failed to coordinate with her office on the release of honorarium to barangay tanods.
Osmeña said she has been trying to coordinate with ABC president Philip Zafra but the latter failed to show up in her office.
“If there is anything I can do to make the executive and legislative work together, I will do it but I can’t force them. I have the exchange of text messages with Philip,” the city councilor said.
Osmeña admitted that there are delays in the release of the P4000 allowance from the City Hall due to the changes of the names of the recipients.
Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier announced that he would stop giving honoraria to barangays proven to be ineffective in their anti-illegal drug campaign.
The barangays’ accomplishment reports will be submitted to the City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (Cosap) for review and recommendation.
“We were supposed to follow up the reports and then after that, Philip never showed up. I have a text message asking him if we can sit down and discuss the matter,” councilor Osmeña said.
In the quarterly assembly meeting of ABC on Monday, the matter was included in the agenda.
Ex-officio councilor Zafra denied the claims of Osmeña that ABC failed to coordinate with the council.
He said he was even able to talk with Cosap head Garry Lao.
“We have coordinated with the office concerned. Cosap, being tasked by the Office of the Mayor to look into this matter, is the perfect office to deal with,” Zafra said.
He added that the assembly meeting was a good venue to discuss the matter since it was attended by barangay captains.
Cosap was requested to make an official memorandum on the requirements for the release of the allowances.
Zafra said some barangays submit haphazardly-done reports because Cosap did not give specific requirement information.
Zafra added that he is expecting to get the Cosap memorandum next week.
With regards to his meeting with Lao, Zafra said the process will not be put into order.
“If they [BOPK and Barug Team Rama councilors] want to share inputs, they are welcome. For now, we are satisfied with my talk with Lao,” he added.