Mandaue City coffers left with P3.4B – Fortuna
(Left to Right) Acting Vice Mayor Elmer Cabahug and Acting Mayor Carlo Fortuna led the ceremonial turnover of Mandaue City’s leadership to Mayor-elect Jonas Cortes and Vice Mayor-elect Glenn Bercede in a brief ceremony held this morning, June 28, at the city’s session hall. / Doris C. Bongcac
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – The administration of outgoing Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing failed to implement programs that would address the city’s concerns on informal settlers.
It also failed to fully utilize the city’s share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from the national government while none of the 27 barangays have been declared as drug-free by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
These were among the findings mentioned by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Mandaue City office in the Governance Assessment Transition Report which they presented to outgoing city officials led by Acting Mayor Carlo Fortuna and incoming officials led by Mayor-elect Jonas Cortes during the ceremonial turnover of the city’s leadership held this morning, June 28.
The report prepared by DILG City Director Jhoaden Lucero covered seven performance areas. These are financial administration; disaster preparedness; social protection; peace and order; business-friendliness and competitiveness; environmental management; and tourism, culture and the arts.
Fortuna said in a message which he delivered during the turnover ceremony that while the Quisumbing administration may have had its downside, it still managed to leave P3.4 billion “which can be utilized by the next administration.”
But the biggest achievements of the outgoing administration, he said, was their campaign on the imposition of traffic discipline, single plastic use ban, and the rehabilitation of the Butuanon River.
“I hope that the next administration will be able to continue this,” Fortuna said.
Lucero’s report said that while Mandaue City posted a revenue growth, it only managed to utilize 75 percent of its IRA share in 2018.
Only 15 percent of the city’s Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (LDRRMO) allocation was also spent during the same year which is way below the government standard of 70 percent while the city’s disaster office was also occupied by a non-plantilla position holder.
The DILG assessment report mentioned that the city also failed to pass legislations that will prohibit illegal settlements and come up with a shelter plan.
In the area of peace and order, the DILG report said that none of Mandaue City’s 27 barangays have been declared drug-cleared by PDEA.
In an interview, Fortuna clarified that LDRRMO was given to a non-plantilla position holder on a temporary basis while the city looked for a qualified person to head the said office.
Fortuna gave credit to members of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) led by Police Colonel Julian Entoma for ensuring peace and order in the city. MCPO, he said, was even cited in 2016 for having the most number of drug surrenderers during the implementation of Oplan Tokhang by the different police units in Central Visayas.
“Overall, in terms of peace and order… safety is the number one indicator for business to come to the city. This (Quisumbing) administration gave so much importance to peace and order, the reason that we have a very high rate in terms of peace and order,” he said.
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