Cebu, with P3.2-B income, seeks P11.8-B budget

CEBU CITY—The rift between erstwhile allies Tomas Osmeña and Michael Rama has taken a deeper dive over Rama’s proposed P11.8-billion budget that Osmeña allies in the city council said couldn’t be funded with the city’s existing revenue measures.

Rama, incumbent mayor, had instructed department heads to boycott a pre-budget hearing called recently by the city council to discuss his proposed budget, setting the stage for another showdown with his critics allied with Osmeña, former mayor and now congressman.

The P11.8-billion budget sought by Rama is more than 200 percent higher than the current city budget of P4.5 billion.

But councilors, mostly allies of Osmeña, said the biggest question was where to get the money.

Councilor Alvin Dizon said he found it difficult to believe that the city could raise revenues to fund the proposed budget.

He said Quezon City, one of the country’s richest, had a proposed budget of P11 billion for 2012, but it has the revenue to fund it. Quezon City, Dizon said, has 58,133 registered businesses and raised P20 billion in taxes as of September.

Cebu City, on the other hand, only has 28,000 registered businesses and raised only P3.2 billion in taxes as of September. It has a shortfall of at least P800 million in its current budget.

Rama asked department heads not to attend the pre-budget hearing and instead be present when the council holds its regular session on the proposed budget.

The mayor, at a news conference on Oct. 28, said he stopped his department heads from attending the pre-budget hearing because questions “can be addressed in the regular budget hearing.”

Councilors, mostly allies of Osmeña, were miffed. They warned they might sit on the proposed budget, forcing the city to use a reenacted budget.

The snub came a day after Osmeña criticized Rama for trying to “centralize” city hall operations and accused the mayor of trying to build a political machinery for his re-election in 2013.

Rama has stripped councilors of supervisory functions over commission and special bodies, which they used to enjoy when Osmeña was mayor from 1989 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2010. Rama placed these commissions and special bodies under his office.

Councilor Margot Osmeña, wife of Rep. Osmeña and chair of the council’s budget committee, sent out invitations to seven city hall department heads, including  City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo, asking them to attend the Oct. 27 pre-budget hearing.

The council prepared lunch for the pre-budget hearing scheduled at noon. But an hour passed and not a single department head showed up.