Compostela town faces budget, caretaker woes

Compostela town will start 2012 with the same P56-million budget it  had since 2009.

In a phone interview, outgoing director Pedro Noval of the Department of Interior and Local Governments in Central Visayas (DILG-7) said he met with all department heads last month to consolidate the re-enacted budget for the town.

The deadline for the 2012 budget submission of local government units (LGUs) ended last Oct. 15.

Owing to an election protest filed by mayoralty candidate Gilbert Wagas, there was no council to deliberate on the budget proposal.

Noval, the caretaker mayor of Compostela town, will be reassigned to DILG-8 in Tacloban City.

Included in Compostela’s budget is its meager P3-million revenue, which Noval said cannot sustain the town’s needs.

He said P34 million was spent for the town last year.

A substantial portion of that amount covered the salaries and maintenance of some offices in municipal hall, Noval said.  His replacement, incoming DILG-7 Director Ananias Villacorta, will assume the post tomorrow.

Villacorta, who paid a courtesy call to the Capitol yesterday, said he received the memos on his designation from Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo.

He said he may ask Robredo to appoint an interim DILG official who can assume as caretaker of Compostela while he orients himself to his new post.

“As I see it, I could not report there daily. It would eat much of my time,” Villacorta told Cebu Daily News.

He plans to meet with the Compostela municipal department heads and the barangay captains tomorrow.

Compostela was left with no mayor and municipal council since last year after mayoralty candidate Ritchie Wagas filed an election protest against mayor-elect Joel Quino and the rest of his municipal council. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus