The Cebu City Hall.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The proposed Supplemental Budget No. 1 (SB-1) of Mayor Edgardo Labella to the City Council has been increased slightly from P4.4 billion to P4.5 billion to accommodate additional expenses.
This after the City Council committee on budget and finance concluded their budget hearings for the SB-1 on Friday, July 23, 2021. The two-day budget hearing was the second time the committee scrutinized the budget.
Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, committee chairperson for budget and finance, said that the adjustments were needed so that the city could pay for its dues to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and avail of the amnesty.
Garcia said that the additional P22 million would include the payment of taxes to BIR and additional expenses for the opening of vaccination sites.
“Nahitabo ato, giuli namo di ba? So the Office of the Mayor resubmitted another budget pero pareha ra gyod siya naa ray gamay gipangdungag. In terms of amount, gamay ra sad ang dungag, P22 million ra ang increase,” said Garcia in a phone interview on Saturday, July 24, 2021.
(What happened is that we returned it, right? So the Office of the Mayor resubmitted another budget but it was more or less the same with only a few additions. In terms of amount, it is just a little amount that was added, only P22 million was added.)
With the budget hearing wrapping up, Garcia said the SB-1 would finally be endorsed to the full council by July 28, 2021 during their regular session.
Garcia is confident that the budget will be passed on time as Vice Mayor Michael Rama promised that the budget will be passed within July 2021.
However, Rama will not be presiding the session because he is currently serving as acting mayor while Mayor Edgardo Labella recuperates from pneumonia. First Councilor Donaldo Hontiveros will instead be presiding over the council.
Garcia said that with two sets of budget hearings and an adjustment of the budget prior to the final approval, he hoped that the council members would already have been clarified with the budget especially with the allocations.
The biggest chunk of allocation amounting to P1.2 billion will be used to pay the balance of the city’s loan for the implementation of the South Reclamation Project (SRP) now known as the South Road Properties (SRP).
Part of the allocation is for the completion of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) construction project and the implementation of the city’s vaccine rollout.
“Kaya na nato ipasar within this month kay ang Council naman lang ang needed moapprove,” he said.
(We can pass this this month because it will only be the council who will need to approve this.)
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