P2 million for Cebu City Hall Band

[cebulifer]

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hahaha!!! morag deadly lang ng MY WAY basta videoke bai!

[nsvc902]

hehehe... mao na ako gusto kung unsa sad ka deadly ang MY WAY sa banda.

[haroldking]

btaw ganahan sad ko mo kanta si Mayor Mike anang MY Way dha sa iyang banda sa city hall tan awon ato unsa na ka deadly nang kantahaa...hehehe

[sharkey360]

Band! Band! Band!

The brass band and choral group, which will be headed by Oliva, will be part of the arts and culture program under the Office of the Mayor.

With the help of professional artists and city employees, it will train out-of-school youth, persons with disabilities, vendors and other sectors in the areas of dance, theater, choral singing and string ensemble.

The mayor allocated P500,000 for the expenses for the establishment of the band and P1.5 million for the instruments, but there was no breakdown of the items to be purchased, prompting the councilors to slash the amount.

Citing the duplication of the arts program with the activities and functions of Chac in terms of personnel and funding, Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña went on to suggest removing the item from the budget.

“We already have an organization in the City that is for the historical and cultural affairs, so what’s the difference? This is a great project but I would think that we have better things to do. There are other groups that are already doing this like the
Arts Council of Cebu,” she said.

Oliva explained that their arts and culture program will not duplicate, but will complement the Chac’s activities. She assured they will coordinate with Chac to avoid any duplication.

At this point, Rama arrived in the caucus room, and took the chance to defend his proposed projects in the budget, including the band, the P10-million renovation of his and other offices in the executive building and the P5 million for the fixtures and equipment in the different departments.

“This program will connect with Chac. This is not competing, this is complementing...

It will start purely with the Cebu City employees... This is not only band but arts and culture within the City Government. I should understand this clearly because I have been the head of Chac since 2001,” he told the councilors.

Other items in the budget are the P31.5 million for retreading and paving of roads and bridges, P30 million for the medical assistance program and P9 million for the burial assistance program.

During the deliberation on which items in the budget would be cut, some councilors proposed to cut the budget for the medical and burial assistance, but Osmeña
disagreed.

“What about the band? Do we need a band right now because that’s P2 million... Let’s not touch the medical assistance and burial because it does not sound good, it’s really not good. It’s something that’s a matter of life and death, as compared to the band. I’m not opposed to the band but we have to prioritize... Just don’t cut funding for the services because these are for the people who have nowhere else to go but us,” she said.

Council tries to cut budget | Sun.Star Network Online

[aguanta]

appropriation para "banda" ug CAIB ... masabtan nganong nindot ug dunay band, whether para parade or para sing-alone si mike ... ang usik-usik kanang CAIB

[lloydjon]

waste of money...mao rana kaya ni mike rama para sa cebu city..

[cmac]

2 Mil Come on mike.. the band is not a priority.
Mas maayo pa imo na ipa utang ang kwarta sa mga gusto mo sugod ug negosyo na pobre with a considerable interest rate para maka tabang and ginansya pa mo.

[haroldking]

2 Mil Come on mike.. the band is not a priority.
Mas maayo pa imo na ipa utang ang kwarta sa mga gusto mo sugod ug negosyo na pobre with a considerable interest rate para maka tabang and ginansya pa mo.

+1 yep exactly! or maybe iya ipa utang sa mga empleyado kay cge mana sya ingon nga kinsa to naay utang diri na empleyado... mas mo okey pa cguro ana mga sugbuanon kay maka tabang sa empleyado unya income pa sa city government hinay basta kanunay.

[sharkey360]

BUDGETING a tricky undertaking. You lose sight of your priorities and you end up wasting a big chunk of your earnings, not to mention failing to hit your goals.

This is what makes the current debate on whether to buy or not the ancient aircrafts that the Department of Education (DepEd) is selling rather heated.

Under normal circumstances, making a decision on the matter wouldn’t have been difficult for Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

But these are strange times in the city’s politics. The proposal to buy the planes comes from Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, who obviously has the blessing of Osmeña to shove the idea on Rama.

In the city’s twisted political setup, Rama may be the mayor but real power lies in Osmeña, the administration party chieftain to whom majority of the City Council bows down to.

So while Rama may consider the interest of his constituents in deciding on the purchase proposal, that consideration may be overshadowed by the influence of the personalities favoring it.

Guilty, too

But even if Rama asserts himself and junks the proposal to buy the planes, it does not mean that he has grasped the essence of the controversy or why the public frowns on the idea.

Rama himself is guilty of a similar offense. His plan to form a City Hall band, appropriating P2 million in people’s money for it, follows the same logic as the proposal to purchase the DepEd aircrafts.

And it is a thinking that has been in place in City Hall for the past several years, the reason why the luster of Cebu City has dimmed considerably.

Since the South Road Properties (SRP) has been in place, city officials, from Osmeña and now possibly Rama, have lost sight of the priorities in governance, most of which involve the delivery of basic services to their constituents.

Priorities

It is true that the SRP siphons a big portion of the city’s finances to pay the loan incurred for its construction, limiting City Hall’s ability to fund other important projects.

But that problem is compounded by city officials, notably Osmeña, losing sight of budgetary priorities.

They were so focused, or should we say obsessed, with turning the SRP into the city’s “crown jewel” that everything else---road maintenance and repair, garbage collection, improving the drainage system, meaning the basics---became secondary in their minds.

Until priorities are corrected, we will continue to see city officials proposing to buy planes and form a band at the expense of providing basic services.

Editorial: Buying planes, forming a band | Sun.Star Network Online