Garcia may use veto powers

CEBU, Philippines — With his proposed 20225 annual budget slashed from P17.9 billion to just P14.6 billion, Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia yesterday said he may exercise his veto powers and restore items whose funding were reduced.

This, as he expressed his gratitude to the Cebu City Council for approving the annual budget so that there is no longer any need to use a re-enacted budget, instead.

"Nothing is for certain yet, nothing is sure. As a chief executive, I can exercise my veto or my line-item veto after reviewing the provisions of the budget," said Garcia.

He said that he still has room to exercise his veto authority, which could be an option after he is done reviewing the budget.

He admitted, though, that he does not know if he will have enough time to do this, considering that the start of 2025 is just a day away.

If he is unable to exercise his veto power, Garcia said, he will be left with no choice but to work with the budget the council has approved.

He said he was satisfied with how the legislative body deliberated on the budget ordinance, as he admitted that he still needs to review the items to assess the possibility of exercising his veto authority.

He had earlier expressed pride that his proposed annual budget for 2025 was “more realistic” compared to what the City Council approved for this year, when the executive department, led by then mayor Michael Rama, proposed P50 billion, which the council eventually cut down to P25 billion.

Because of that, he had expressed confidence that the proposed annual budget would not be slashed and would remain intact until approval, which did not happen because the majority of the council members, or eight of them, deemed it best to remove P3.3 billion.

Despite this, Garcia said that the P14.6-billion budget is still a "workable" budget. He said that should any budgetary concerns arise along the way, the executive department can request a supplemental budget for it.

"So that being said, malipayon man gihapon ko sa budget," Garcia said.

"Although it is not as I would have wanted, nga P17 billion, pero you know... naa sad tingali laing wisdom ang council," he added.

Garcia stressed that he is "satisfied" with how the deliberations resulted.

The items that the council members heavily scrutinized and then drastically reduced were mostly those for the City Government’s pro-poor programs.

Garcia said it was a wasted opportunity to better serve the people of the city.

For example, he said, his plan was to provide free school uniforms, bags, and supplies to public school students., which was allocated P500,000 but whose budget has been cut.

"Sayangan lang ko ana…. It would have put emphasis on education for our children, being our hope for tomorrow, pero ilang gi-trim. Gisayangan lang gud ko nga hasta ang mga bata naapil intawon sa pag-trim down," the mayor said.

The budget approval took place during a 'hybrid' special session last Friday afternoon, with Ex-officio Member Rhea Jakosalem attending via Zoom.

With the members not reaching a consensus, the presiding officer decided to divide the house, with eight members approving the slashed budget and seven objecting to it.

Those who opposed the budget cut were legislators who declared an alliance with Garcia’s Kusug political party.

Despite not getting what he wanted, Garcia expressed gratitude to the city councillors who voted against the approval of the slashed budget, saying they were just watching over the "welfare and progress of Cebu City."

"Ila gyung gibarugan atong stand, they fought for our children; they fought for children’s school bags, school uniforms, for all 100,000 children. They fought for that, although they didn’t achieve everything they desired," he said. (CEBU NEWS)