Only select members of the Local Housing Board may go to Singapore for a three-day visit and exchange program on housing projects.
Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo agreed to reduce the contingent, whose original P564,000 travel cost was questioned by the Council last Wednesday.
“The travel will be beneficial because it will help us observe the urban development concept of Singapore and Malaysia. It will help us to become self-sustaining,” Carillo said of the invitation extended by a Singapore-based firm, Surbana.
Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon opposed the plan to charge the board’s travel to Singapore to the city’s socialized housing trust fund account.
“The hard reality is that the city’s funds for its socialized housing program are never enough to address the housing needs of its urban poor. Thus, the city government must prioritize the use of its limited funds,” Dizon said.
Dizon said the funds are better spent on developing urban poor housing sites.
On review, Dizon, the council’s housing committee head, said foreign travel was not a proper expense to be made from the socialized housing trust fund.
Carillo justified the trip saying that since Cebu City had failed badly in implementing its socialized housing project, they should learn from the example of experts.
For the Singapore travel to push through, LHB members should seek other fund sources with the mayor’s office.
Another option is to ask Surbana to take care of all travel expenses from July 28 to 30.
Surbana, a Singapore based consultancy firm, submitted an unsolicited proposal for the master planning of City Hall’s pipeline housing project at the Citi Center in barangay Kamagayan last May 23.
Accommodations
The firm, which specializes in sustainable urban solutions, also invited Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and 12 LHB members to a three-day visit provided city visitors to pay for their airfare and hotel accommodation.
Surbana was only prepared to spend for their food and inland transportation during the visit.
Councilors Carillo and Hans Abella drafted a resolution proposing to charge P564,000 to cover their Singapore trip to the city’s socialized housing trust fund.
Dizon objected, saying the fund can only be spent on socialized housing lot acquisition, site development, relocation or resettlement of danger zone occupants, construction of medium-rise buildings, construction of housing units, Dizon said.
Dizon said while the housing committee isn’t opposed to the trip per se, they consider its cost “too much.”
Carillo said a “conflict of interest” may also arise if LHB would allow Surbana to take care of all expenses of their Singapore trip.
“Since they presented an unsolicited proposal, it would be dangerous for Surbana to fund the trip,” he said.
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