Disagreement over speaker ends session

Yesterday’s opening of Cebu City Hall’s series of budget hearings ended on a sour note after 20 department heads walked out of the City Council’s session hall.

The walkout ensued while City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo elaborated on the P11.8-billion budget proposed by Mayor Michael Rama.

The department heads received a text message from Rama to leave the session hall during the presentation.

In an interview, an irate Rama said he felt insulted that the council refused to recognize his secretary Belinda Navasquez and assistant city treasurer Emma Villarete, whom he appointed to explain the budget’s revenue sources.

“It is not for the council to know who should be there (to present). They only need to know from which department will the presentor come from,” Rama said.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young and Councilor Margot Osmeña, who chaired the council’s budget committee, said the feeling was mutual.

“That is very insulting not for me as a person but the office that we represent,” the councilor said.

Young said if the department heads, especially those that comprise the local finance committee (LFC), continue to skip the budget hearings, the council may file charges of dereliction of duty against them before the Ombudsman-Visayas.

Waste of time

Councilor Edgar Labella said the LFC members, which consist of the city treasurer, budget officer and planning officer are mandated by the Local Government Code to address the council in its budget deliberations.

“We are supposed to be interacting with each other for the benefit of the City of Cebu. But what is happening now is violative of the accountability of public office, which is provided for in the Constitution,” he said.

Rama earlier called his department heads for a meeting before the council session.

He told media he won’t attend the budget hearing and send Navasquez to read his message to the council instead.

Young said sending Navasquez was a waste of time since the mayor could have sent a written message to them instead.

He also asked the council secretary to summon Camarillo after he noticed her absence at the council session hall.

The vice mayor voiced displeasure over Camarillo’s absence especially after the department heads declined to attend a prebudget hearing last Oct. 27 on orders from Rama.

‘Mutual respect’

The budget hearing, which started at 1 p.m., was attended by Rep. Tomas Osmeña and 20 barangay officials.

Osmeña, the former mayor, derided Rama’s budget calling it a “joke.”

At the start of the hearing, Councilor Osmeña thanked the LFC and said the budget deliberations should be done with “mutual respect” between the executive and legislative departments.

She reiterated that the city government should draft a realistic and achievable budget and start budget discussions by looking into the city’s revenue generation capabilities.

When Camarillo made her presentation, the department heads left.

The council took a break at 2:30 p.m. and resumed 15 minutes later, but the department heads still didn’t show up.

Young sent someone to fetch budget officer Nelfa Briones and planning officer Alipio Bacalso from the mayor’s office.

‘People’s budget’

Instead, City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete handed a note from the mayor to Young.

Poblete confirmed that the mayor ordered the department heads to suspend participation in yesterday’s budget hearing.

He also said the mayor was irate after the council refused to allow Villarete to make the budget presentation.

Councilor Osmeña said as a former vice mayor, Rama knows that the city treasurer, and not her assistant, should explain the revenue sources.

Despite the aborted budget hearing, she said they would resume hearings next Tuesday.

In response, Rama said if the council agrees to have Villlarete do the presentation, he would order his department heads to show up even it’s held on the weekend.

Rama said the council pre-judged his budget proposal even before the first hearing.

“It’s not even my budget. I am only a part of it. It is the budget of the people,” the mayor said.