Labella assures full accounting of P15-M COVID preparation funds
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella |CDND file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Health will need to provide a comprehensive audit of the P15 million emergency fund the Cebu City Council has given them for the preparations against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID).
Mayor Edgardo Labella said the budget will be liquidated down to the last centavo for transparency.
“Of course that should be accounted for. I will demand a liquidation down to the last centavo. Ato gyud na tan-awon unsaon pag gasto (We should see how the money is spent),” he said.
This after the Cebu City Council slashed the initial P28 million budget for Covid preparation to P15 million during the regular session on Wednesday, February 12, 2020.
Labella said he understood the council’s apprehension to approve a huge sum of money to ensure that the city will remain Covid-free.
He said P15 million is acceptable as already included the training of personnel not only to fight Covid, but also for all kinds of infectious diseases that may spread in the city in the future.
In the session, some councilors questioned why the City Health Department (CHD) presented its budget a quarterly breakdown for the P28 million.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama, the city council’s presiding officer, pointed out that if the procurement is really urgent, the purchase must be done immediately and not spread quarterly.
The council then agreed to approve only P15 million, which was projected to be the amount needed for the immediate spending requirements of CHD.
“It’s okay. Anyway, if the CHD needs more funds, they can always ask. What’s important is that we have funds now that will be used to purchase the necessary protective equipment,” the mayor said over the budget slash.
The mayor said he wants the budget to be used to buy protective equipment for all health workers in the city especially those who are on the frontline in the quarantine centers and the barangay health workers monitoring those under home-quarantine.
If there is a necessity to buy more equipment for CHD, Labella said he may ask for a supplemental budget from the city council./elb
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