Think Bits
Councilor Margot Osmeña’s recent call to Mayor Michael Rama to submit a budget for the payment of the loan amortization to the South Road Properties (SRP) raised alarm bells at the prospect of the city being penalized if it fails to meet its obligation.
The executive department has not submitted any budget proposal to meet its obligation of amortization to the SRP loan because, as Rama pointed out, he already submitted the Supplemental Budget No. 1 that not only pays the amortization but the full loan balance.
For their own reasons, the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc in the Cebu City Council deliberately failed to act on Supplemental Budget 1.
I think Councilor Margot Osmeña is passing the buck or the responsibility to meet the obligation for the SRP loan from the council to the executive department despite knowing that SB1 was already on their laps since last year.
I think it is logical for the mayor not to propose a budget for the amortization of the loan because he already submitted a budget for the full payment of the SRP loan.
Apparently, there is no logic for Osmeña to ask the executive for a proposed budget for amortization because it failed to act on the proposed budget submitted by the executive to fully pay the loan balance.
Simply put, the executive has done its job when it comes to meeting the SRP loan obligations. If there is anyone to blame, it is not the executive but the BO-PK bloc in the council for failing to act on SB1.
The BO-PK bloc didn’t act on the SB1 because of the case that was filed against the use of the proceeds from the sale of the SRP lots to pay the loan though the lower court had dismissed the case.
Councilor Sisinio Andales asserted that the SB1 was proposed last year yet and thus is not valid.
But Andales should be reminded that the SB1 is still relevant even if he and his BO-PK allies failed to act on it.
By failing to act on it head-on, there was no closure on SB1. It remains pending because it was neither approved nor disapproved, just buried under all sorts of excuses the BO-PK can dream of.
Councilor Osmeña should not be looking for the proposed budget for the amortization of the SRP loan because there’s the SB1. Rather than deliberately ignoring it, the BO-PK bloc should act on it.
Under our system it is the executive that should propose a budget to the lawmakers and Rama already did this with SB1.
Osmeña thus cannot pass the buck or blame to the mayor and her assertion is devoid of logic and common sense.
The SB1 is already there, why should the BO-PK bloc demand that the mayor look for another budget? They should quit passing the buck and blame to Rama and do their jobs already .
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Last week kicked off the campaign period for national candidates who hit the ground running on all fronts to win the hearts and minds of the voters.
It also is that time for us, the voters, to start weighing on whom to vote for.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is also confronted with the challenge to ensure orderly and clean automated elections and the job is made difficult by reports of vote-counting machines rejecting a number of ballots because they are sensitive to any markings on the ballots.
I think the Comelec should see to it that these glitches are fixed immediately lest they become serious.
Let us be vigilant and make sure that the Comelec lives up to its obligation to hold honest, clean and orderly election.