Osmeñas: Budget consultation may give false hopes; Rama says it’s required

The City Council budget committee in general supports the budget consultations of Mayor Michael Rama.

But committee chairperson and Councilor Margot Osmeña cautions barangay officials and sectoral representatives against raising “false hopes.”

Rep Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, the councilor’s husband, sees the exercise as “political deception.”

Councilor Osmeña said coming up with a wish list as being done in the budget consultations that started last Tuesday until today, is one thing while identification of funding sources to support all these wishes is another.

“This is a wish list (outcome of the budget consultation). They (participants) have different priorities but they should also be given guidelines on how much (money) is really available (for spending and how this should be spent). (They have to know that) these are (the) funds available and work within that,” she said.

She added the mayor’s consultative process is nothing new.

“This is already being done by the Local Development Council (LDC) which also include sectoral representatives in its membership in order to determine the usage of the Local Development Fund.”

She however respects the prerogative of the executive department to determine what projects and programs to prioritize in the draft budget which the mayor is required to submit to the City Council on or before Oct. 31 of each year.

The City Council’s job is to review the mayor’s budget and see if there is enough funding to spend, the councilor said.

Rep. Osmeña, meanwhile, described the conduct of the budget consultations as Mayor Rama “acting like Santa Claus.”

The south district congressman said he is certain that in the end, Rama would again pass the blame on the council, if the wishes of the barangays are not implemented.

“But it is the responsibility of the council to take into consideration the realistic figure of how money is available (for spending),” Rep. Osmeña said.

He added that had the council authorized Rama’s P11.8 billion budget request for 2012, the city could have already gone bankrupt as early as April.

Government auditors have called the attention of the city on the overstatement of this year’s budget even in the absence of enough funding to support this.

“Let him (Rama) get the money first. (But) right now, the city is in deep trouble,” said Osmeña.

Rama’s financial adviser Ofelia Oliva earlier said the consultation process is in accordance of the Local Government Code.

She added that the process would get inputs from City Hall’s constituents on their needs.

Oliva admitted that not all inputs from the consultation may be funded in the annual budget.

Part of the process, she explained, is the prioritization of projects that will be funded in the short term, medium term and long term.