Making the budget work
So Cebu City’s proposed budget for 2012 was cut in half by the City Council after marathon hearings that at times turned confrontational with the mayor’s office.
The P5.2-billion budget was in line with the “skin and bones” approach of Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district. He called it an “excellent” job of pruning the hidden folds of an unprecedented P11.8-billion proposal the mayor’s critics called a nightmare to fund.
The burden of having to maximize this budget, which is a tad bigger than the P4.5 billion of the previous year under Osmeña’s watch, falls squarely on Mayor Michael Rama.
The council, steered by his wife Councilor Margot Osmeña as budget committee chief, found it wise to leave untouched generous outlays of P300 million for senior citizens cash gifts, P200 million for college scholarships and P100 million for a medical assistance program.
Another item that was spared was a P1-billion fund for barangay projects as agreed upon by both Rama and the council. That item alone is a potential election tool, which both parties know only too well could spell the difference in drawing support from grassroot officials.
The items that were axed by the council included “vanity projects” of the Rama administration, such as the beautification program, proposed parks in Carbon market, which Rama proposed in lieu of the community college that Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young planned as education consultant.
Is the budget impasse over? Until Mayor Rama signs on the budget, we can’t be too sure.
Rama once threatened to post tarpaulins throughout the city to tell residents about the projects that were denied funding by the council.
But to sit on the budget would just mean automatic lapsing into law after the reglamentary period.
If he’s unhappy with the cuts, the mayor can always submit monthly supplemental budget for approval as needed by the City Council.
That’s how the “skin and bones” strategy worked in the past. So for every park and beautification program he needs funded, he’d have to go to the City Council and negotiate.
Not a fatal cut, as there are eager private sector benefactors ready to fill the void.
What is a significant loss, though, is the scrapping of P75 million for six new master plans.
None of them survived the budget review—funding for expert planning to address traffic, coastal management and drainage were essential pieces.
Who else would care about engineering the shape of Cebu City’s future than the city government? The whole controversy over the misuse of flyovers stems from lack of a blueprint on which to make well-informed infrastructure decisions.
The vastly reduced budget clearly showed that the City Council will take direction from their party boss, Tommy Osmeña, and entrust the shape of the city’s future in his hands.
