City cash balance hits P3.1 billion

CEBU, Philippines - The city government announced it has reached a cash balance of P3.19 billion, a first for the city government.

“This morning our cash balance is P3,194,984,510.54. This is the highest cash position that we’ve ever had in our history,” said Mayor Tomas Osmeña after he received a copy of the statement of accounts from the City Treasurers Office yesterday morning.

“These are cash deposits. We realized that I can now give the central bank a headache because I just have to sign a check to have all of these in cash,” the mayor jokingly said.

He said that a portion of the P3.19 billion is already obligated however he did not specify exactly how much is the obligated amount.

“Of course, naa na diri atong utang, unimplemented projects, people who have not collected their money yet, it includes everything. Pero basta, amoang cash position is P3 billion,” Osmeña said.

Today, the city is set to withdraw P429,777,768.11 for an early loan payment to its foreign loans acquired earlier for the development of the South Road Properties.

Included also is the recently approved P1.5-billion supplemental budget for the various projects and other expenses of the city government.

He said that about P1.5 billion will be deposited to a yen account to protect the city’s funds against peso devaluation. The city in the past has been a victim of the disadvantages of peso devaluation when the foreign loan it originally acquired for the amount of P3 billion ballooned to P6 billion.

This loan is the same loan that the city is currently paying and incurred for the development of the SRP.

“Through our yen account, when there’s a devaluation, we can protect ourselves,” Osmeña said. The city also has an existing dollar account for the same purpose.

Converting a portion of the city’s budget would mean sacrificing the four-percent interest per annum that the city may earn for putting its money in the local back.

Meanwhile, the city council approved yesterday the almost P1.5 billion supplemental budget, the biggest ever proposed in the history of the city government, which is being appropriated for the various projects and other urgent expenses of the city.

Supplemental Budget No. 3 totally amounts to P1,482,717, 207.00 sourced from realignment from Current Appropriations amounting to P6,324,917.00, realignment from Continuing Appropriations from last year of about P40,000 and the retained Operating Surplus last year of about P1,476,352, 290.00.

Aside from the P1.482-billion general fund, the council also approved another P15,008,878.00 to be deposited as subsidy to the special accounts of the City Traffic Operations Management, Cebu City Medical Center, Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor, Operation of City Markets and the local Development Fund.

Of the P1.482 billion, the biggest allocation goes to the budget for loan payment of P401 million which already includes the payment due for the month of August. The city is paying twice a year, every February and August, for its three foreign loans that has reached P6 billion earlier used for the development of the South Road Properties.

Last February 21, the city has paid P381 million for the loan and is set to pay another P417 million today.

The second biggest allocation is for the infrastructure projects of the north and south barangays of the city totaling P389, 452, 061.82. The infrastructure projects include construction, renovation, improvement of hospitals and health care centers, drainage, road concreting and water system and other basic infrastructures.

Other salient features of the SB3 is the P100 million initial allocation for the scholarship program where 10,000 high school graduates of any public school in the city are entitled to receive P10,000 cash each for their enrollment to college provided they enroll in schools that are paying taxes to the city particularly the University of Cebu and Cebu Institute of Technology. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)