Councilor to Labella: Prioritize pandemic response in 2021 budget

Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon is asking the city government’s executive department, which is headed by Mayor Edgardo Labella, to put first pandemic response in the 2021 budget.  | CDN Digital File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — “Allocate funds for pandemic response.”

This was the request of Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon to the city government’s executive department, which is headed by Mayor Edgardo Labella, for the 2021 city budget. 

According to Dizon, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the financial liquidity of the city government because of the large scale impact to the local economy. 

Dizon said the city should not be spending outside its means and instead prepare for another wave of the pandemic. 

He cited more budget for health, education, and pandemic recovery.

“It is imperative that the budget be pandemic responsive and focus on urgent priorities such as health, economic recovery, aid, education, among others,” said Dizon. 

He said that the budget must also be with “meaningful participation” from development partners such as nongovernment organizations, businesses, academe, and other civil society groups. 

Read: CCDC submits 2021 ‘wish list’; seeks approval of P22.3B AIP

The councilor said he was hoping that since the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) had been endorsed by the Cebu City Development Council (CDDC), Mayor Edgardo Labella would be circumspect on what projects to fund. 

The CCDC endorsed a P22.3 billion budget for 2021 with at least P1.7 billion budget for health. 

The AIP is still subject to the City Council’s approval. 

An approved AIP will be basis for the city’s annual budget and no allocation can be made for projects not included in the AIP. /dbs