Playing Santa

Cebu City Hall employees stand to benefit most from the game of one-upmanship between Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and the City Council.

He wants to give a P20,000 Christmas bonus after the council endorsed a figure of P15,000.

So what are the “pre-conditions” the mayor said he wants to stipulate to make this generous bonus binding?

The public would like to know what science or logic goes behind the burst of generosity from City Hall officials so ready to release amounts that even a private company woud use prudence in giving to its senior managers.

What rationale basis has been given for doubling a Christmas bonus from last year’s P10,000 per employee after three quarters of a Philippine economy performing at 7 percent growth?

It’s been a long season of budget wrangling with the City Council challenging every request of the mayor with haughty skepticism that his administration can raise revenues to pay for his ambitious wish lists.

Now we have this race to give out the fattest bonus for the city’s 5,000 employees.

From talk of “bare bones budgets” and fuel supply cutbacks, all of a sudden the language has become part of a game of who’s the biggest Santa Claus.

It’s bewildering.

Or rather, it does make sense that with the May 2013 election coming up, the value of favors and enlisting support has gone up as well.

May we remind the mayor and legislators that campaigning should be done on their own time, and preferably on their own campaign budgets.

There is garbage to be collected, street potholes too many to count waiting to be patched, fire victims and displaced families in need for attention.

All of this requires a judicious use of public funds.

The games being played with taxpayers money should be tempered with the reality that, hey, it’s money that belongs to the public first, and not the self-serving interest of leaders seeking a new mandate in May 2013.

Make 5,000 government workers happy on Christmas but make all Cebuanos see that the bonus given is a realistic amount as well.