Council renews contracts of 45 consultants

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council yesterday approved the renewal of contracts of 45 consultants of Mayor Michael Rama, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young and all of the city councilors.

Of the 45, 23 are Rama’s consultants while the rest are consultants of Young and the councilors.

It was reported that the executive department asked for the exclusion Guillermo “Dodong” Casinillo and Jose Felix Lazarte from the list of consultants of the City Council while the city legislators asked that Atty. Janeses “Jade” Ponce and Ester Cubero be excluded from the list.

But Casinillo and Lazarte were among those renewed yesterday while Ponce and Cubero were no longer in the list.

Casinillo is the City Council’s consultant for senior citizens while Lazarte is with the office of Councilor Augustus Pe Jr.

Ponce is the mayor’s consultant handling environmental matters and head of the Land Management Office (LMO) while Cubero handles the city’s scholarship-related matters.

Except for former mayor Florentino Solon who is a “one peso a year” consultant, the other mayor’s consultants are receiving P18,000 monthly honorarium, while those with the City Council get P9,000 every month. — (FREEMAN)