Rama: BO-PK dragging feet in budget approval

The opposition Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc in the Cebu City Council will have to explain what’s keeping them from passing the proposed P256.8 million supplemental budget 2 (SB2).

“What we are asking for is not even a huge budget.  It is just a minimal budget,” Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said in a news conference yesterday.

SB2 was referred to the City Council’s budget committee during a special session on Monday.

SB2 includes appropriations for allowances for judges, prosecutors and policemen and the payment for the barangays’ share in the cost of holding this month’s barangay elections as mandated under the Omnibus Election Code.

Councilor Margot Osmeña, who chairs the budget committee, promised to render a report in today’s session and set the date for hearings on the supplemental appropriation. The committee is also expected to list down the financial reports that they would need in the budget hearings. Osmeña said they needed to verify the funding sources for the proposed SB2.

What’s the rush

In last Monday’s session, Councilor Sisinio Andales questioned the “rush” in passing SB2 when most of the appropriations concern mostly payables. The councilor said most of them were furnished a copy of SB2 only last Monday.

“They (councilors) have the responsibility to do their job. We also have a responsibility to do our job,” Rama said.

The mayor said some judges visited his office a few weeks ago to follow up on their allowance which the city government has not released since July.

Their visit signals the city’s need to settle its obligation to them, Rama added. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac