Alegria, Cebu dad says budget process, not her, delayed town employees’ bonus

CEBU, Philippines - Former Alegria, Cebu mayor and now town Councilor Emelita Guisadio yesterday said the budget deliberation process, not her, caused the delay in the approval of municipal employees’ bonuses.

She was constrained to make an explanation after some town officials allegedly blamed her, as chairman of the municipal council’s committee on appropriation, for the delay in the approval of the town’s supplemental budget.

Mayor Verna Magallon reportedly submitted the P1.7-million supplemental budget last Monday on the very hour the municipal council has to hold its regular session.

Guisadio said a fellow councilor moved for the suspension of house rules to give way for the swift passage of the supplemental budget without giving time for other members to scrutinize the items.

This prompted Guisadio to raise an objection to the motion, raising some concerns that have to be resolved first.

Among the items in the supplemental budget were appropriations for productivity enhancement and incentives; yearend bonuses for new employees; terminal fees for outgoing officials and employees.

Guisadio said they were asking for the list of employees who could avail of the bonuses and terminal fees, knowing that at least two department heads during her time as mayor were suspended and terminated by the present administration without due process.

“Among ipatawag ang (The council summoned the) budget officer dili patambongon, wa mi kaila sa ubang (but she was not allowed to attend our session to verify if the recipient) employees bag-o ba or dili (were newly hired or not),” she told The FREEMAN.

She also asked that a “competent” person be assigned during the budget deliberation to take down notes of the minutes of the session, after accusing Sangguniang Bayan Secretary Bienvenido Tolabing of  being biased.

Guisadio claimed that since July, the sanggunian has no proper recording of the minutes of sessions and approved resolutions allegedly due to the incapability of Tolabing to encode the proceedings.

A special session is set tomorrow for the approval of the supplemental budget.

Guisadio said that due to the incapacity of Tolabing to record the minutes, they asked for a live video coverage of the session to be shown outside the session hall so that the public would know how the budget deliberation is done. (FREEMAN)