Rama wants to buy patrol cars for police

A police officer looks at the damaged Patrol car. It accidentally hit a minivan while responding to an alarm in 2008. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants to buy new patrol cars for police. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

Financial aid to barangays, brand-new vehicles for the city police and lot acquisition for a government center are on top Mayor Michael Rama’s list of expenditures that would be funded by the proposed Supplemental Budget 2.

The biggest appropriation in SB2 is the P210 million aid to 70 barangays who were unable to collect their P6.6 million aid in 2013 because of failure to liquidate prior year’s assistance.

The mayor also wants to buy patrol cars worth P15 million for the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) and a P10-million property in barangay Basak San Nicolas for a city government project. The purchase of new police vehicles and the lot acquisition for a 20-bed capacity emergency hospital and public mortuary are among the promises Rama made during his State of the City Address (SOCA) last July 2.

“We need the police vehicles to beef up security during the APEC summit. Gamiton ni nato [We will use these] to escort visiting diplomats kay lisud man sad kaayo ug mga sakyanan nga kagang kagang ang atong ipa-escort sa mga diplomats [it would be difficult if the vehicles we would use to escort diplomats are dilapidated,” said Jose Daluz III, one of Rama’s aides.

The planned public mortuary, meanwhile, is aimed at reducing the number of wakes  that obstruct sidewalks or close roads.

Daluz said that another important appropriation is the P10-million budget for “Task Force Kinabuhi” for the city’s preparation for the dry spell that Pagasa predicts would hit the country before the year ends. The amount will be spent on water hoses, barrels and the establishment of water systems in mountain barangays.

Rama created Task Force Kinabuhi about two months ago to coordinate the efforts of city hall departments in preparing for the drought, said Daluz.

About 70 of the city’s 80 barangays would also get close to half of their 2013 aid from city hall if the supplemental allocation is approved.

The biggest appropriation is the aid to 70 barangays and Daluz said City Hall will only release an initial P3 million to the 70 barangays because of fund limitations. The remaining P3.6 million may be released later when more funding sources are identified.

“We can no longer give to the 70 barangays their P6.6 million aid because we close our books at the end of the year. As per accounting’s advise, our remedy is to pass a supplemental appropriation. But we will only be able to release initially P3 million,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Rama presented the proposed SB2 to the City Council last Wednesday.

Daluz said SB2 amounts to a total of P501 million and not P600 million because some of the items included in the general funds also appear in the special accounts. The double entry is made for items in the special accounts that are subsidized by the city’s general funds.

Fund sources for SB2 include about P257 million in unappropriated balances from the 2014 collection.

Daluz explained that unappropriated balances were taken from the excess in collection targets which the city treasurer’s office has identified for the first half of the year.

Councilors have referred SB 2 to the budget committee for review and the scheduling of budget hearings to discuss the budget proposal and its fund sources.

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