CEBU, Philippines -Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered his department heads not to appear before the City Council if it wants to discuss the city’s financial matters in a public hearing this morning.
The council had invited the city treasurer, city budget officer, city accountant, city resident auditor and the city administrator to its regular session today to discuss the city’s financial status.
Some city legislators are reportedly worried about a Commission on Audit (COA) report that said the city had an overdraft of P965 million as of December 31, 2012.
The COA reported that while the city had a little over P1 billion cash in banks as of last December 31, it has payables amounting to over P1.9 billion.
At a press conference yesterday, Rama said he would allow department heads to appear before the council only in an executive session, which the public is not allowed to witness.
The mayor said it is not right for his department heads to discuss financial matters during a public forum because he has not yet submitted the city’s Annual Budget for 2014 or a Supplemental Budget for this year.
In a caucus yesterday afternoon, councilors allied with the Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK) said it’s up to the mayor if he will not allow his department heads to appear before the council.
Last night, city administrator Jose Marie Poblete told The FREEMAN that the department heads are willing to appear before the council.
But Poblete said: “Amo lang g’yud nga klarohon ugma (today) kay ang mayor man gud ang magbuot.”
Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña said the council just wanted to know the city’s present financial status since they heard reports that it has difficulty looking for funds for the salaries of its employees.
The councilors want to know how much the city’s actual revenue collections as of July 31 as compared to the estimated revenue collections as reflected in the Annual Budget.
They also wanted to ask the city accountant how much is the city’s unpaid financial obligations to suppliers and contractors.
Osmeña had received reports that some contractors were not yet paid of their billings, worth millions of pesos, submitted months ago.
The city’s annual budget for this year was P5.3 billion but the actual revenue collection as of June 30 was only P2.4 billion.
The city, however, is hoping that Filinvest Land Incorporated (FLI) would give the city its initial share from the joint venture agreement (JVA) amounting to P600 million.
Osmeña said she learned that there are infrastructure projects included in the budget that were not implemented because of the lack of funds.
Rama said he would send a letter to the council to explain why he can’t allow department heads, particularly the members of the Local Finance Committee, to appear in a public hearing.
The mayor feared that the council might subject these officials to more scrutiny in public.
The FREEMAN learned that a COA representative will attend this morning’s session to talk about the city’s cash overdraft. –/LPM (FREEMAN)
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In today’s Council session, Rama bars dep’t heads from public hearing
...nag nihit cguro ang negosyo ni rama mao hinay2 og kuha sa kaban
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