The Cebu City Hall. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council approved as is the proposed Supplemental Budget no. 3 (SB 3) amounting to P1,215,600,230.44, during its regular session on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.
The approval of SB 3 is a welcome development for the Office of Senior Citizens Affair (OSCA), especially with the scheduled distribution of the P2,000 senior citizen cash aid this Friday, October 28, and for regular city hall employees for their Christmas bonus.
Before the final deliberation on Wednesday, the Committee on Budget and Finance, chaired by Councilor Noel Wenceslao, conducted a budget hearing last Thursday, October 20.
In its committee report, approved by the council on Wednesday, the Committee on Budget and Finance said the City Treasurer swore in front of the members present on Thursday that there is actual cash backup, and that the funds are available for SB 3.
Last September 28, the City Treasurer and the City Accountant duly attested by the City Mayor have certified that the sources of funds for the SB 3 for 2022 for the general fund proper also have actual cash backup.
The sources of funds, as presented by the City treasurer are the following: savings (from current appropriations, personal services CY 2022, and current appropriations-MOOE CY 2022); realignment (from current appropriations, capital outlay, continuing appropriations CY 2015-2021, and continuing appropriations of Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund CY 2014-2021); reversion (zoning free, and accounts payable CY 2012-2018), and others, specifically the subsidy from City Markets.
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“This committee finds no legal impediments as to the budget presented and the records submitted, taking into account the comments and observations of the members of this committee,” a portion of the report reads.
The bulk of the SB 3 is for the financial aid, including the cash aid for senior citizens in the last quarter of this year, regular employee Christmas bonus, financial assistance for persons with disabilities, and the city’s scholarship program.
Here is how the Cebu City executive department proposes to spend the SB 3 per office and departments. | Photo screenshot from the report of the Committee on Budget and Finance.
Deliberation
The final deliberation of the SB 3 started at around 4:21 p.m. and lasted for about 30 minutes, including a 10-minute recess.
Wenceslao submitted for approval SB 3. He was seconded by Councilor Jerry Guardo.
However, Minority-floor leader Councilor Nestor Archival, Sr. abstained from voting.
Before it was finalized, Councilor Archival raised a concern as he maintained that instead of being the third reading, the discussion for the ordinance seeking the approval of the SB 3 on Wednesday was just the ordinance’s first reading.
He also requested for additional schedule for further discussion of the matter, especially since he had questions on the appropriations and the sources of funds.
Wenceslao, however, refuted Archival, saying that the first reading was made when the proposed budget was first referred to the council last week and the committee budget hearing last October 20 as the second reading.
Archival then asked Sangguniang Panlungsod Secretary Atty. Charisse Piramide if this is indeed the third time that the ordinance was included in the SP’s minutes of the meeting.
Piramide then responded that as practiced by the previous city council, the endorsement from the mayor would constitute the first reading, the committee report from the Budget and Finance as the second reading, and the deliberation on October 26, as the third and final reading.
This, however, did not sit well with Archival, who emphasized that scrutiny should be implemented in the deliberation of an ordinance concerning budget requests, just as the council does with other ordinances.
“We are not objecting, yet ang point lang nako based on what I get (is that) the endorsement coming from the mayor is very clear that the council is to make a supplemental budget, not the ordinance itself,” he said.
“Where is actually the complete form of the ordinance? Wala. Mao na ako punto is we are doing something nga ni assume ta nga ang procedure sakto. If you consider that it is the third reading then I cannot do anything,” he added.
Councilor Mary Ann De Los Santos then manifested that it is “very clear” that there was no first reading and pointed out that the practice of the council in deliberating budget requests must be corrected.
“We can have a special session first thing tomorrow morning just to make it legally right, but we know that in numbers, we cannot win (against) the administration,” she said.
She, however, did not abstain from nor objected to the approval of SB 3.
/bmjo
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