Obstacles for the mayor
I am glad that senior citizens in Cebu City will get P4,000 next week as their first quarter cash assistance despite the proposal of the City Council to have it released in June or to give the annual assistance given by monthly installments. The executive department through the mayor insists on a quarterly release.
Vice Mayor Joy Young has threatened to file charges against the mayor for ignoring the council’s proposal. But Mayor Michael Rama, who’s a lawyer, believes his action is legal and valid, knowing that the execution belongs within the ambit of the power of the executive branch and not the legislative department whose power is to review and approve the mayor’s budget.
This has been my experience when I was working in the Senate with then Sen. Alberto G. Romulo who chaired the sub-committee on appropriation.
I think Vice Mayor Young’s warning was misplaced. Mayor Rama is being threatened by a non-lawyer public official. It saddens me that the council has become more of an obstructionist to the mayor’s efforts to serve his constituents. Noble projects get waylaid because it is the project of the mayor. The City Council is insecure that the aid for senior citizens will boost the mayor’s chance of reelection in May.
A classic example is the Buhing Kalbaryo or annual passion play that has received financial assistance from the Cebu city government for the past seven years.
Today the same project gets no aid from the council because of the lame excuse that it doesn’t fall within guidelines for the use of Pagcor funds. However, the mayor recently showed a copy of the guidelines that cover sports and cultural shows as activities Pagcor funds can finance.
With the May 13 elections nearing, what happened in Mandaue City where the former city council blocked all projects of Mayor Jonas Cortes, will happen as well to the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) dominated Cebu City Council if they they will be made to pay dearly for the things they have done for partisan politics.
Another proposal of the mayor to provide gasoline allowances for police cars and fire trucks that provide basic services to the city was not approved by the City Council despite their important role in fire prevention and peace and order.
With the council’s objection, this will tremendously affect the performance of the police and fire department. The delivery of basic services for the city of Cebu should be spared from partisan politics.
* * *
I received positive feedback about the improvements in the Cebu City Medical Center that Rep. Tommy Osmeña wanted to close down. I am glad he finally realized his mistake and made a 180-degree change when he decided recently not to close or sell the city hospital if he gets elected mayor.
He declared that he wants barangay captain Jun Gabuya, whose wife is a doctor, to manage the city hospital. I disagree with letting a politician run the city hospital because the same problem that burdened CCMC before when it was ran by a politician, will happen again.
The CCMC will again become a milking cow for politicians who hire their supporters for the hospital even though they don’t know anything about medical services. You risk having mediocre staff again in the CCMC.
Congressman Osmeña should think over his plan well and should have said instead that he’d appoint the wife of Gabuya, who is a doctor, to run the city hospital.
By now the congressman should realize that good services of the hospital declined when he appointed a politician before to run it.
Never again should we commit the same mistake which will just burden the poor who are the hospital’s main clients.
