Liquidation needed for Cebu City barangays to get financial assistance

Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City barangays who wish to avail of the city government’s financial assistance must be able to present a liquidation of the past financial assistance they have received.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, the committee chairperson on budget and finance in the City Council, said that the city has allotted P600 million in total from the 2021 annual budget for the barangays.

Yet, Garcia said the city needs enough proof that the barangays are using their funds properly, as financial assistance of huge amounts requires a degree of trust.

The councilor revealed that some barangays are yet to provide the liquidation of their financial assistance in 2020, which reached around P1 million to P3 million depending on the population of the barangay.

However, he did not reveal which barangays have failed to provide liquidation.

“Very importante, kinahanglan nga wala silay unliquidated amounts in the previous budgets. Obviously, if they want to avail the financial assistance of the city, they must show us that the previous financial assistance nga among gihatag, ilang giliquidate.”

“Kung wala pa naliquidate, dili sad gyod ta mohatag,” said Garcia.

Garcia added that the guidelines for the release of the financial assistance depend on Mayor Edgardo Labella and once the mayor has set the guideline, they can begin rolling out the financial assistance.

For now, the councilor urges the barangays to liquidate their past financial assistance ahead of time.

Mayor Labella for his part said the city will give the financial assistance to help the barangays formulate programs for economic recovery and employment of residents.

“Magamit na nila sa infrastructure or other projects that can give also the barangay folks opportunity to recover,” said the mayor. /rcg