‘Blame game’ after Cebu City loses P50M anti-poverty funds

Finger-pointing among Cebu City officials and even non-government organizations ensued after Cebu City reportedly lost a P50 million budget from the national government to fund its anti-poverty programs.

Some urban poor groups urged Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to file a case of usurpation of authority against a Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan (LPRAP) facilitator picked by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

But other urban poor groups said they felt “insulted” by Mayor Rama’s disrespect of the consultation process with his decision to reject their original action plan and submit another one to the DILG.

The Urban Poor Solidarity Federation (UPSFed) and Nasudnong Katawhang Kabus (Nakabus) claimed that Cathy Ruiz, the LPRAP facilitator for Cebu City, wasn’t authorized to convene an assembly to draft the anti-poverty action plan.

Ruiz, the DILG-designated facilitator for the LPRAP, is a representative of the Center for Participatory Governance. The two poverty reduction action plans were rejected by the DILG.

The agency said they didn’t approve the original plan submitted before the Feb. 15 deadline because it wasn’t signed by Rama.

The second action plan ordered by Rama was spearheaded by the Division of the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP).

Nene Pacilan, a representative of the Share A Child Movement, said Rama should have respected the process.

The mayor earlier claimed that the CSO assembly didn’t “process” the outputs that came out in the first action plan.

“We were insulted (by Rama) because we followed the process. The signatories of the budget plan must be elected among the representatives of civil society organizations (CSO) and not picked by the mayor,” Pacilan said.

Urban Poor Alliance (UPAII) representative Linda E. Paracuelles said their action plan was produced through consultation among CSOs in accordance with a joint DILG circular with other agencies.

She said the city drafted action plan didn’t follow guidelines set by the DILG, the Departments of Budget and Management, Social Welfare and Development and the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

Their first action plan prioritized funding for food production, education on organic farming, farm inputs and livestocks raising at P11.9 million.

The DWUP-drafted plan prioritized jobs for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and community electrification at P7 million.

Based on the DILG circular, the action plan should be signed by three CSO-elected representatives and the mayor.

The CSO representatives were Paracuelles, who also represented the ABACA foundation, Leonilo Omayan of the CCFPWD and Arsenia Abao of the 4Ps Parent group.

But the UPSFed and Nakabus said Ruiz was unable to gather the needed number of CSOs during the assembly.

They also claimed that the whole consultation process was manipulated by the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK).

They said BO-PK has in its corner DILG undersecretary Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez, a former city administrator under the administration of former mayor and now Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district.

The groups also claimed there was no document proving that the city forfeited the P50 million budget for its anti-poverty programs.

Sought for comment re-electionist Councilor and urban poor leader Alvin Dizon, a BO-PK member, said he isn’t in a position to answer.