Mayor says ‘city is rich’; increases aid for senior citizens

Cebu City is in good financial shape, said Mayor Michael Rama, who made senior citizens happy yesterday by announcing an increase in their annual  cash assistance to P10,000 starting 2013, an election year.

“Daghan ug kwarta ang syudad sa sugbu, (The city is rich)” said the mayor in his State of the City Address, marking his second year in office and the last stretch of his administration.

Rama said the city had P4 billion in annual revenues and real properties worth P15 billion.

The only financial liability, he said, is its P4 billion debt  to be paid by installment until 2025 for the 300-hectare reclamation project of the South Road Properties.

His speech, delivered mostly off the cuff in Cebuano, lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

About 25,000 gathered at Plaza Subgu to listen to his report of accomplishments, a crowd that Rama denied was a “hakot” audience of employees and barangay officials.

At one point, he tossed aside prepared notes, saying a Powerpoint slide of a pie chart flashed behind him that showed  the 2012 budget was “too small” for the audience to read clearly.

He told his city administrator  assistant to buy “eyeglasses” for the elderly.

Then he said a copy of his SOCA should be given to critics who “have a masteral sa panaway (criticzing) and doctorate sa pangaway” (picking up  fights), a reference to his political critics, including majority fo the Cebu City Council which snubbed the event.

Among the big plans Rama said he had in store if he is reelected to City Hall next year are a third Mactan bridge to connect Cebu City mainland with Cordova town, and  drawing up drainage and traffic master plans.

He also mentioned a plan being studied to install cable cars as a means of transportation in the mountains, and the need to build a circumferential road in the north to connect barangay Pit-os to nearby Consolacion town.

However, Rama also acknowledged the political reality that his plans can’t be achieved without the support of the city council, which is dominated by his political opponents led by rival Rep. Tomas Osmeña.

Mayor Rama’s soft spot for the elderly, who count 50,000 registered seniors in Cebu City, was a main feature in this year’s address.

Before he gave his speech, he  inaugurated a senior citizens park , a still empty field, near the Gotiaco Building across City Hall.

Rama announced a bigger subsidy for city residents 60 years and older.

From the current P7,000 a year, he said he plans to increase this to P10, 000 in 2013 and further increase it to P12,000 annual or P1,000 a month in 2014 — if he is reelected.

The announcement drew loud cheers and applause especially from the elderly citizens in the crowd.

The partial amount of P3, 000 was already released last month while the balance of P4, 000 will be released in December.

Among the successes, Rama cited, was the recent legal victory in the Rallos property case, where the Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction stopping any auction of city property to pay for money claims of heirs of the late Fr. Vicente Rallos.

Rama’s administration has opposed paying what it said are false claims for a lot in Sambag II which is now used as a city road because this was already donated to the city based on a 1940 convenio or contract recently discovered by his staff.

For as long as he is mayor, Rama said  he will keep the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) open to provide services to the poor and work closely with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to resolve the status of urban poor occupants in city lots covered by Provincial Ordinance No. 93-1.

He ended his address by saying politics should be set aside for the meantime. Doris C. Bongcac, Chief Of Reporters and Senior Reporter Marian Codilla