A drop in the bucket

Yesterday we spoke about how officials were wrangling over Cebu City’s 2012 budget, with the opposition saying it was a “joke” and the Rama administration raising the specter of higher taxes to meet its P11.8-billion target.

Lost amid the tug-of-war was this little story of how the city officials decided to drop P360,000 worth of gym membership next year. Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said they won’t resume the gym contract but will honor the existing one which includes a free six-month trial period.

At the onset, the contract appears aboveboard. Councilor Jose Daluz III, who pushed for the contract, justified it saying the city government spends thousands to sponsor sports tournaments and buy exercise and sports equipment for barangays.

What’s P360,000, Daluz may very well say, but a drop in the bucket for Cebu City, which boasts a billion-peso budget including P1 billion in Internal Revenue Allotment? Indeed P360,000 is perhaps one-fourth of the budget Cebu City sets aside for its annual Sinulog activities.

There’s also that P250,000 for taxpayers’ appreciation night pushed by Mayor Michael Rama, which his predecessor Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district labeled too expensive.

But when one deals in billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money, such amounts may seem negligible and not worth a mention. Still, the gym membership contract shows that those allied with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan party are not above engaging in a little indulgence every now and then.

Aside from expensive dinners, Rama is being castigated for planning to purchase a barge for firefighting and removing garbage from coastal barangays. And of course, there’s this little City Hall band project that he asked for to boost morale among employees.

Oh, but there’s also this little plan by Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young to acquire vintage planes from the Department of Education in exchange for school buildings. And now, this gym membership incentive that’s hardly being used by the officials themselves.

Barangay captain George Rama was right when he said the amount could be used to buy exercise equipment for the Cebu City Sports Center. With some of the elder officials working out there, including Congressman Osmeña, why should they spend a centavo to work out in a commercial gym?

To spare them from further public criticism, the city government should drop the gym contract immediately. It may not be much, but we doubt city residents who barely make more than P100,000 a year will let this incident slide.