Council sits on consultants' contracts

CEBU, Philippines - Some of Mayor Michael Rama’s consultants encountered problems yesterday when the members of the Cebu City Council did not authorize the mayor to sign the renewal of their contracts.

The city legislators did not disapprove, but also did not approve the proposed resolutions of Councilors Alvin Dizon and Nida Cabrera seeking the council’s nod to allow the mayor to renew the contracts of Janeses “Jade” Ponce and Gerry Marquez, health and environmental consultant, and for urban poor matters, respectively.

Both Marquez and Ponce are receiving P18,000 monthly honorarium from the city. Dizon and Cabrera have recommended to extend the contracts of the two consultants from July 1 to December 31, 2012.

However, the City Council just decided to “lay the resolutions on the table,” meaning that these can still be presented again in future sessions.

Some city councilors who requested anonymity said they heard reports that Marquez is being used by Team Rama to campaign among the urban poor residents.

The City Council also did not approve the proposal of Councilor Edgardo Labella to authorize the mayor to sign a contract with Cerwin Eviota, the mayor’s consultant on development communications and training for the Public Information Office (PIO) from January 1 to June 30.

The city legislators questioned the delay in the submission of the document, but Eviota explained that some city officials gave him a run around in securing the needed documents to support his contract.

Labella did not give explanations about the delay in the submission of said contract for Eviota. The Council, however, approved Eviota’s contract of consultancy services for the period from July 1 to December 31.—Rene U. Borromeo/JPM(FREEMANNEWS)