ONLY three members of the Cebu City Council have confirmed that they will attend the special session today to discuss the shelved P2.8-billion Supplemental Budget 1 (SB1).
Those who will attend are Councilors Nendell Hanz Abella, Noel Wenceslao and Philip Zafra, all allied with Team Rama.
Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) councilors Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, Sisinio Andales and Eugenio Gabuya said they will not attend.
To reach a quorum, nine or 10 councilors will have to attend the session scheduled for 2 p.m. today. Acting Vice Mayor Nestor Archival sent out notices to the councilors last week.
Suspended Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday said the councilors should attend today’s session.
“It’s a matter of great importance and urgency and they have to (attend). Otherwise, they will be facing more problems ahead because that is part of their responsibility. If you talk about SB1, I can’t think of a reason why it should not be discussed. At least there is such a thing as yearend pronouncements,” he said.
The proposed SB1, which will be sourced from the down payment for the South Road Properties (SRP) lots, has been shelved several times because the SRP lot sale is the subject of a pending case in court.
The bulk of SB1 will go to the pre-payment of the Cebu City government’s outstanding SRP loan.
The executive department, confident that SB1 would be passed, had not included an allocation in the recently passed P6.4-billion 2016 budget for the principal and interest payments for the SRP loan.
The Cebu City government will need to pay about P200 million by February 20 next year, or pay a penalty of 2.0 percent equivalent to P4 million a day excluding foreign currency charges.
Another item in SB1 is the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI) for Cebu City employees.
“It can’t be argued anymore that their position is flimsy. Their justification is wishful thinking and their wanting to stop is very much obvious,” Rama said.
“If they continue doing so, then they will just be continuing an act of disservice. They will only be registering a memory that will haunt them all together when May 9 will come and it’s their choice (if) they want to be wiped out,” he added.
Meanwhile, Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella said he will ask the council during the special session today to declare barangay Lahug under a state of calamity.
Fire razed about 70 houses in the densely populated sitio Avocado in barangay Lahug last Saturday. Some 679 persons were affected.
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