Council questions city hymn search plan

CITY Hall is mounting a contest for   songwriters to compose  the  official hymn of Cebu City in Cebuano.

But why assign the search to the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries?

Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña, who chairs the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (CHAC), raised the question last week.

The search, which is open to all Cebuano composers,  has a  P177,950 budget.

“I want to ask for the guidelines and I want to be clarified what an official city hymn would be like.  I hope that this will be coordinated with CHAC,” Osmeña said in last Wednesday’s council session.

Councilor Leah Japson, chairperson of the city’s 75th Charter Day celebration, said the city hymn search is still part of the city’s Charter Day activities.

An original allocation of P204,750 for the hymn contest was   reduced to P177, 950, she reported.

Japson also  presented to the council a liquidation of expenses of the Charter Day celebration.

Of the total P3.9 million budget,  P3.3 million was actually spent.

The biggest outlay of P1.06 million was spent for the recognition of outstanding City Hall employees while another P990,000 was spent for the testimonial dinner at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino  ballroom where the city government paid tribute to  75 “families of distinction” and outstanding individuals and institutions.

Other key expenses were  P148,856 for the city’s Family Day;  P113,200 for the search for the outstanding barangay officials of the year (Toboy) and P80,355 for the Charter Day floral offering.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and the council  clashed last year over a plan  to organize  a City Hall musical band made up of city government employees.

The mayor had to scale it down to a city choir, when his   P1 million budget proposal was cut by the council, leaving no funds left to buy musical instruments.