Budget discrepancies

If last Tuesday’s budget hearing for  the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) is any indication of how the city’s 2012 budget is prepared,  there is valid reason to question, even grill, department heads on how they came up  with their estimates in the first place.

When asked about  realignment of over P900,000 worth of funds intended for drugs and medicines to buy ball pens and office supplies, hospital chief Dr. Gloria Duterte at first said she didn’t authorize the purchase.

But when she was presented with a letter she had signed  authorizing the purchase, the good doctor said she didn’t realize that the outlay was taken from the drugs and medicines budget.

That says a lot about her   management style as head of a government medical institution. Considering that she’s asking over P400 million as the hospital budget  for next year, of which about P143 million will be allocated for drugs and medicine,  how would Dr. Duterte keep track of how the hospital spends its funds?

Another glaring admission: Dr. Duterte said the hospital  only has commerce graduates, not certified public accountants, to manage their books of accounts.

Would this  partly explain why Duterte was unable to keep track of how funds such as those used to buy ball pens and office supplies were being allocated?

And that’s just from the CCMC. Rama earlier revised his P11.8-billion budget to P10.8 billion, reasoning that there were discrepancies and erroneous entries made by people under the Local Finance Committee, which he tried to amend by sacking Acting City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo and replacing her with Asst. City Treasurer Emma Villarete.

How prepared really are Cebu City Hall’s executive departments to justify their  large budget requests?

The progress so far raises a suspicion that they were  instructed by Rama to balloon their budgets  to hedge against cuts by the   City Council and to increase their chance of   getting a substantial amount approved.

The budget hearing still has a month to go but things aren’t looking well for Rama. His choice of Villarete was snubbed by the Bureau of Local Government Finance who insisted that Camarillo will stay on until they appoint a permanent replacement for her.

While  Cebu City residents deserve more than a “skin and bones” budget, they also deserve one that’s free of  obfuscating fat that keeps auditors from getting a clear view.