Councilor calls for a stop on ‘unnecessary’ expenses

Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon is calling the city government to stop unnecessary spending. | CDN Digital File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Cebu City councilor is asking the city government to stop spending funds on non-urgent expenses while the city is under the general community quarantine.

Councilor Alvin Dizon told CDN Digital in a text message that the city’s funds should be focused on addressing the needs and mitigating measures against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“A moratorium should be imposed on LGU’s non-urgent expenses like purchase of vehicles, office equipments and sports events’ sponsorship in order to realign and prioritize public funds for aggresive prevention, testing, and treatment systems of COVID 19,” said Dizon.

Since public events such as sports activities are cancelled under the community quarantine, allocation of funds or sponsorships should be suspended as well.

For Dizon, the funds should instead be spent for the purchase of protective equipment, testing kits, and assistance to affected residents.

“The funds should be used and maximized to fill in gaps for distribution of food packs to poor households and displaced daily wage earners, shelter assistance to homeless population, protective equipment for health workers and purchase of more testing kits,” said Dizon.

Mayor Edgardo Labella already said he was asking the city council to allocate P1 billion for the fight against COVID-19, and the city council was set to tackle the budget on Friday, March 20, 2020./dbs