Councilors aligned with the Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc like Margot Osmena ask Cebu City treasurer Diwa Cuevas (left) to distribute only P10,000 to each of them as bonus as city administrator Lucelle Mercado, city attorney Jerone Castillo and city accountant Mark Solomon (standing) listen to the questions. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Cebu City Council okays P201.7-M supplemental budget
The Cebu City Council approved in a special session yesterday the supplemental budget that includes the P30,000 cash incentive for all officials and employees.
The amount will be distributed in cash before Cebu City Hall’s Christmas party on December 18.
Not everyone at the City Hall is happy, though.
Councilors Alvin Dizon and Mary Ann de los Santos of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc said the amount, which is included in the approved P201.7-million Supplemental Budget 2 (SB2), is “too much.”
Both Dizon and de los Santos abstained from voting on the ordinance and asked City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas to release to each of them only P10,000 as cash incentive. The P20,000 balance should be returned to the city’s coffers.
Although they voted for the passage of the SB2, BO-PK Councilors Lea Japson and Margarita Osmeña, who authored the budget ordinance for SB2, also requested the city treasurer to disburse only P10,000 to each of them.
De los Santos said P10,000 is the “more appropriate and reasonable” amount.
“I find the amount (P30,000) unconscionable and extravagant. It is not lost on me that the P127,110,000 is sourced from taxpayers’ money. Thousands of these taxpayers wallow in poverty. Why extract money from them and give such money to fund this biggest cash incentive in the history of local governments?” she said.
SB 2 includes an allocation of P127.11 million for the P30,000 cash incentive, which is thrice the monthly salary of more than half of Cebu City Hall’s 4,800 employees.
Dizon said the city government should be sensitive and prudent in spending public funds.
“I’m not against the cash incentive. But in my conscience, I cannot accept the additional P20,000. The amount is too much and it’s not fair to the taxpayers to shoulder P127 million for it,” Dizon said.
Basis
The cash incentive comprised the bulk of the P201.7-million SB2 under the general fund.
Another P24.3 million was appropriated under the city’s special accounts for cash incentives for employees of the city’s economic enterprises like the hospitals and markets, among others.
De Los Santos said that while she recognizes the efforts of city government employees, giving them P30,000 at the expense of the taxpayers “simply does not make sense to me.”
The basis for granting the P30,000 cash incentive is a resolution from City Hall’s Program on Awards and Incentives of Service Excellence (PRAISE) committee.
In pushing for SB2, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama cited the recognition given this year by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) to Cebu City as the third most competitive highly urbanized city in the country.
The city was also awarded as the second most competitive highly urbanized city in terms of infrastructure.
Questions
During the discussions for the budget, Councilor Japson asked the Local Finance Committee why it decided to give P30,000 cash incentive instead of just including in the SB2 the proposed P78-million appropriation for Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) for employees under SB1.
The PEI is equivalent to a month’s worth of salary. City Hall rank-and-file personnel receive between P10,000 and P20,000 on average.
City Accountant Mark Salomon said they can’t include the PEI in SB2 because it is a one-time disbursement covered by an executive order by the president.
City Administrator Lucelle Mercado also explained that they came up with P30,000 since P40,000 will be “too much” and P20,000 is not enough.
Incentives
“We want to make it a happy Christmas for a lot of people,” she said.
Mercado said more than half of City Hall’s 4,800 employees receive less than P10,000 as monthly salary while the rest receive less than P20,000 monthly.
City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo, in a separate interview, said there is sufficient legal basis for the incentive.
He said the PRAISE committee has the mandate to provide incentives for exemplary works by employees and if there are recognitions from outside bodies.
Aside from the cash incentives, the approved SB2 also includes appropriations for garbage collection and disposal (P40 million), interest payments for the South Road Properties (SRP) loan (P3 million), bank charges (P1.5 million), and augmentation to the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (P5.8 million). Subsidy to special accounts amounts to P5.98 million.
Other fund sources
The fund sources for the additional budget is the P104.4 million additional income from business taxes, incremental P12.2 million tax collection of value added tax from 2000-2008, and realignment of P82.2 million from current appropriations this year.
Cuevas said they collected P1.8 billion in business taxes as of December 6, which is higher than the P1.6 billion they targeted to collect for the entire year.
In a post on her official Facebook page yesterday evening, Councilor Osmeña, who heads the council’s budget and finance committee, said the council will cooperate as long as other fund sources are identified.
The down payment for two South Road Properties (SRP) lots was the lone source for the P2.8 billion SB1, which has been shelved by the council due to a pending court case questioning the validity of the sale.
“We are happy that finally we affirmed that there are other sources of funds to support a supplemental budget. This is our stand and we have consistently recommended to the executive department to look for other sources of funds instead of using the sale of the SRP,” Osmeña said.
Provision
The only difference from the original SB2 proposal was the appropriation for the garbage collection and disposal program.
The executive department asked for P55 million but the council approved only P40 million.
During the budget deliberation, Engr. Rolando Ardosa, head of the Department of Public Services (DPS), said the city owed P24.3 million to the private landfill in Consolacion town as of November 30.
It was also found out that the city would need P15 million more for them to be able to pay the private landfill for this month.
The approved SB2 has a special provision on the use of the P40-million appropriation for the garbage collection and disposal which states that it should only be for payment of the private landfill.
This means that the DPS can’t use the funds to pay private haulers who have been contracted by the city to help transport the wastes mostly from south district barangays to the landfill in Consolacion.