Guard the money
The following is true of the recent spending of the Cebu City government over the last year or so:
Some schools were built that initially didn’t pass standards of structural integrity as those in the mountain barangay of Toong.
Roads were paved that turned out to be substandard, filled with cracks and potholes and vulnerable to erosion.
Drainage mechanisms were installed based on a partially implemented master plan that did not prevent flooding in both uptown and downtown barangays.
Millions of pesos were spent on food, without public bidding to select the food caterer, for teachers who served in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.
Barangay vehicles were used by officials or rented out to residents for non-official purposes like excursions and going to church.
A total of P5 million was released for Christmas lights in December 2010, which auditors challenged.
Scholarships were given to thousands of college students, many of whom dropped out of school along the way.
Given these realities, probably just the tip of the iceberg vis-a-vis the city government’s management of finances, it came as no surprise that the administration of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama found itself fumbling for sources to generate more than P1 billion for this year’s Supplemental Budget No. 2.
Vice Mayor Joy Young at least didn’t pretend he had no hand in the way public funds were used even as he objected to the proposed borrowing of more money to raise the amount.
Young all but admitted the council’s role in the fiscal management that left the city with only P473 million in unused funds from previous years.
Blocking a request by the mayor to open a credit line to source P647 billion is an effective first step towards improved stewardship of public funds.
The next step is simply for government officials to be more eagle-eyed in watching where the money goes, which should be to judiciously selected projects and programs, apart from obligations.
Mayor Rama’s independence from the council continues to give councilors an easy time as fiscalizers, which wasn’t the case when Rep. Tomas Osmeña of the city’s south district was mayor, and city legislators virtually rubber stamped whatever the mayor wished.
The councilors, especially the old-timers, also need to prove their mettle in being more transparent about where they and Osmeña were remiss in fiscal spending in previous years.
Under Rama, it’s just lamentable that money was spent left and right while essentials like the release of salaries to City Hall workers was delayed. (This is the reason Vice Mayor Young, for all his discomfiture about the supplemental budget, wants to have it passed.)
Then there’s the allegation that collection targets were bloated by former city treasurer Ofelia Oliva.
The city government needs to look into this, the better to prod the new treasurer Tessie Camarillo to refrain from what may turn out to be fantastic, unrealistic collection targets for projects that are in effect unnecessary.
