City dad laments over busted Christmas lights

PAMPANGA LANTERNS. Vendors of colorful shell lanterns along N. Bacalso Avenue in barangay Mambaling, Cebu City are a prelude to the Christmas season, which officially starts with Advent on Nov. 30. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

What happened to the  Christmas lights purchased by the Cebu city government in 2010?

Councilor Alvin Dizon addressed this question to the Department of Public Services (DPS) during last Thursday’s review hearing  of  budget proposals for 2015  with department heads.

“The Council is very interested to know where the Christmas lights are now because these are government properties bought with public funds,” Dizon said.

The series lights are already busted, said  DPS chief Rolando Ardosa. They were  used in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

With the Christmas season approaching, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama recently assigned  department heads to partner with the private sector in putting up Christmas decors  and lights along major streets in the city by December 1.

This was the same order he gave in 2010 when the city allocated P5.1 million for  Christmas street lighting and park enhancement under the office of the mayor.

In 2011, the expenditure for the lights was  the subject of an investigation by the Commission on Audit after  funds were released by the City Treasurer’s Office without concurrence from the City Accountant.

Dizon lamented that the Christmas lights were no longer functioning  when they could have lasted for more years.

With this, Dizon said he will either pass a resolution or send a letter to various City Hall offices  for an explanation on  how the lights were handled  and why these were already broken and no longer in use.