Aside from the reduced seniors cash assistance, Mayor Michael Rama should also account for the other payables that were not settled by his administration.
“There are a lot of things that he (Rama) has not done,” Councilor Margot Osmeña said.
Osmeña, who chairs the council’s budget committee, said Cebu City Hall employees and elected officials haven’t been paid their salaries for Dec. 30 yet.
She said the city also didn’t settle payables to schools affiliated with the city scholarship program.
“The council approved a P300 million budget for the scholarship program but we were told by the scholarship committee that they have not been paying the schools because of non-compliance with requirements,” she said.
Osmeña’s resolution asking the city accounting office for a list of its payrolls and processed vouchers dated Dec. 31 was approved by the City Council.
Acting City Accountant Mark Salomon wrote former city administrator Jose Marie Poblete last Dec. 11 to inform him and all other City Hall department heads of the January 5, 2014 deadline for the filing of obligation requests.
Obligation requests made before the deadline will still be paid using the 2013 funds.
The letter which Salomon wrote, mentioned among others, the need to settle various payroll claims from 2013; payment for supplies delivered as of December 16, 2013; and all other claims that have remained unreleased to its claimants as of December 31.
“He (Rama) is always blaming us (council). I’m just asking him to stop lying to the seniors. It (the P720 million appropriation) is included in the annual budget and he signed it (the budget ordinance),” Osmeña said.
Rama said last Tuesday that he will only authorize the release of half of the P12,000 which he promised the seniors this year citing budget cuts.
He said he will make sure that the P2,000 balance of their 2013 assistance will also be released this year.
Rama said non-cash benefits may be given to the seniors in addition to this year’s P6,000 assistance.
“That is his (Rama’s) liability to the seniors. Let him answer them. The P12,000 was a promise he made to the seniors. Maybe now he will change his mind because it is not election year,” Osmeña said.