It’s not surprising for Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to ask why he was being pressured to announce the release date of the final P5,000 installment owed to Cebu City’s senior citizens.
He can readily see a political arrow in the demand letter of lawyer Reymelio Delute, who threatened to file a complaint of grave abuse of authority before the Ombudsman-Visayas if he and 60,000 other seniors doesn’t receive their full share.
“I’m just wondering why a demand letter was sent. What is he trying to prove? It (release of assistance) will always be a matter of how and it (the decision) belongs to the executive. What’s his problem?,” an exasperated Mayor Rama said.
Dulete was the same gentleman who sought the suspension of Rama and several councilors for approving an ordinance that granted P20,000 calamity assistance to themselves and City Hall employees despite not sustaining losses after the Oct. 15 earthquake and Nov. 8 devastation of supertyphoon Yolanda.
Dulete said that as a senior citizen, he’s just exercising his right to claim his share and speak for other elderly Cebuanos who count on the mayor’s promise of P12,000 a year.
Rama sees in him yet another tool of his former mentor and bitter nemesis, Tomas Osmeña.
But the question cannot be avoided as December winds down to the last days of 2014.
When Mayor Rama faced this question months back, he tried to set expectations lower by saying that not the full amount of P12,000 would not be in cash, that the subsidy could be partly given as medicine or grocery items.
A promise is a promise.
About 50,000 seniors are waiting for the big “when”.
Based on City Hall’s tight finances, however, delivering on this promise would be very difficult.
According to reliable sources, the amount will more likely be P2,000 cash as in previous installments, if any at all, with the balance to follow next year.
The cash pressure on City Hall is great.
It just finished releasing P3,000 for Persons with Disabilities last week. Then there’s the P20,000 year end productivity enhancement incentive approved for each City Hall employee who looks forward to this as a holiday bonus.
Another important yearend release is lined up for allowances of barangay officials, programmed for the last quarter.
Are Cebu city’s silver citizens at the last of the distribution line?
We will know soon.
There are two Saturdays to go, the usual scheduled release day for allowances of senior citizens.