Mayor Rama holds back staff; Osmeña asks, ‘Who’s he afraid of?’

The strain deepened yesterday between the mayor’s office and the Cebu City Council when seven department heads didn’t show up for a preliminary discussion of the 2012 budget.

They didn’t attend because Mayor Michael Rama instructed his staff to wait instead for the formal budget review hearing, which the council later set for Nov. 4.

“How can you discuss the budget without them? If they continue to do this, basic services will suffer and we may be forced to reenact this year’s budget,” said Councilor Edgar Labella after waiting an hour with colleagues.

“He has his reasons,” said City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete in an interview later.

“Maybe he thinks it would be unnecessary repetition.”

The mayor’s proposed P11.8-billion budget for 2012 is more than double this year’s P4.5 billion budget with marathon hearings ahead to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for approval of the local government’s annual budget.

Critics in the council question whether the large budget is supported by solid revenue sources.

Yesterday’s preliminary meeting was supposed to tackle that question after Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young called the budget a “joke.”

Undeterred by the no-show, the council reset the series of budget hearings to start on Nov. 4.

The proceedings will be held “in public” as suggested by Councilor Margot Osmeña, an apparent response to the mayor’s earlier announced plan to have tarpaulin banners hung around the city showing details of his budget proposal.

Her suggestion to involve the entire council in the review, and not just her budget committee, was also adopted.

The marathon hearings will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 4, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 and 24.

“It’s very disappointing,” said Osmeña about the absence yesterday of key department heads.

“They always say that they can defend the budget but they do not come to the budget hearing… If they are not prepared to defend the budget, at least they should tell us that they are not yet prepared.”

“This is not a battle,” she said between the executive and legislative branches.

“We are working here for the same city.”

Invitations were sent out Oct. 24 by Osmeña to City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo, City Planning and Development Officer Alipio Bacalso, City Veterinarian Alice Utlang, Market Administrator Raquel Arce, Cebu City Medical Center head Gloria Duterte, Cremdec head Allan Bautista and Citom office head Rafael Yap. City Budget Officer Nelfa Briones was invited by phone since staff forgot to send a letter.

It said the agenda was the “revenue resources” for the mayor’s 2012 proposed budget.

Osmeña, who heads the council’s powerful budget committee, won’t be around for the hearings.

She leaves for the United States on Nov. 3 to 16 to accompany her husband Tomas, the Cebu City south district congressman, for his regular medical checkup.

“You go on without me,” she told the council yesterday.

City Administrator Poblete will also be abroad on those dates to attend an United Nations-initiated program. He asked that budget hearings be held after Nov. 19.

Vice Mayor Young insisted that the council push ahead with a budget review and to fix their own dates.

“It’s our job to review the budget. We have to decide dates for a budget hearing so none of the department heads will have the excuse not to attend,” he said.

Last Wednesday, Tomas, who heads the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) criticized Rama for trying to “centralize” operations of City Hall and build his own political machine for a reelection bid in 2013.

Several commissions were placed directly or budget transferred under the office of the mayor.

Lunch was served at noon for the preliminary meeting but when after an hour passed and no officials came, Osmeña called up Poblete on her cellular phone.

Poblete earlier handed her a letter to explain that Mayor Rama has instructed department heads to skip the preliminary meeting and to instead attend the main budget hearings set for Nov. 4.

The letter was noted with Rama’s signature.

“We wish to convey to you that it is the Executive Department’s intent and desire to present and defend the 2012 Annual Budget during a regular full-budget hearing at the appropriate time as may be determined and set by the City Council,” wrote Poblete.

“I asked you if they were coming and you said yes,” Osmeña told over the phone.

“What is he (Rama) afraid of?”