Labella’s P2.5B supplemental budget proposal up for council deliberation

A P2.5 billion supplemental budget is being proposed by the Executive Department and will be discussed by the City Council. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has asked for an additional P2.5 billion supplemental budget from the City Council to cover costs of services from July to December 2019.

The City Council is set to discuss the proposed supplemental budget on Tuesday, August 27, 8 a.m. in a Committee on Budget and Finance hearing at the Session Hall.

The largest appropriation is given to the economic services of the city, which includes the City Agriculture Department (CAD), the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF), Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), and the Tourism Office, which in total, are allotted P2,085,885,002.82.

The budget for these economic services will be used for the construction of a water waste facility, purchase of new equipment, and building of infrastructure such as bridges and the asphalting of roads.

The Cebu City Transportation Office was also given a P3o0 million allocation for the modernization of the traffic system in the city following the malfunction of 70 traffic lights on August 15, 2019.

Read more: Half of budget for upgrade of Cebu City’s traffic system requested from supplemental budget

Labella said in previous statements that he wanted to push for the modernization before the year would end and the CCTO had asked for a P500 million budget.

He said the rest of the budget would be allocated in the 2020 annual funds.

Read more: Cebu City traffic lights fixed but congestion remains

Aside from the traffic modernization project, at least P80 million would also be allocated for the financial aid of the 5,000 senior citizens of the city, who would receive P1,000 each monthly.

Labella said he sourced the P2.5 billion budget from the  45-hectare South Road Properties (SRP) lot sale to Filinvest and the SM-Ayala Consortium in 2015.

He said the money could already be used by the city government because the companies already withdrew the consignment of their payment to the court.

Read more: Filinvest, SM-Ayala consortium complete P16-B payment for SRP lot; money still with Cebu court

The Filinvest and SM-Ayala Consortium had to previously consign or deposit the payment by installment to the court because former mayor, Tomas Osmeña, would not receive the payment arguing the sale was not legal.

However, Labella said the sale was legal and this was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in their decision to junk the petition of a Cebu City resident who argued the sale was illegal.

With this, he said the money could be used for the city’s services.

The council has yet to approve the proposed budget since in the regular session on August 20, 2019, some opposition councilors already raised their concerns about using the SRP sale payment for the supplemental budget.

Councilor Nestor Archival encouraged the council to find another source for the budget./dbs