Department heads told to attend budget hearings

CEBU, Philippines — All Cebu City Hall department heads are called on to attend the 2022 annual budget hearings for “transparency and accountability.”

Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon made the request, saying their presence is needed, not their representatives.

The councilor observed last year that some department heads only sent spokespersons during the series of budget hearings conducted and some of them found it difficult to answer the questions raised by the councilors regarding their departments’ proposed budget.

“Mas maayo nga sila gyud ang motunga sa budget hearing aron matubag dayon nila kun pananglitan naa mi mga pangutana,” said Dizon.

He also urged the department heads to bring a utilization report for the budget of their respective departments for the current year.

Dizon said they gave the department heads ample time to prepare their utilization reports.

Also, Dizon requested the City Council Secretariat to livestream the budget hearings “to make the people aware of the proposed budgets.”

Both requests of Dizon were approved by the City Council Wednesday.

Dizon hopes that a large portion of the items in the annual budget will have to be related to the city’s pandemic-response.

“Naa paman ta sa pandemiya karon , so kinahanglan nga mahatagan gyud kini og saktong pagtagad,” he said.

The budget hearing for the proposed P8 billion 2022 annual budget will start next week. — KQD (FREEMAN)