P20K shirt, SUV deal

CEBU, Philippines — The review of Cebu City Hall’s fiscal health continues under Mayor Nestor Archival, with his administration now uncovering more alleged “irregular purchases”—this time, a shirt that reportedly cost P20,000.

The revelation comes as Archival’s team conducts an initial assessment of what they claim is a budget deficit inherited from the previous administration.

Among the first to call out the spending was Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who accused former mayor Raymond Garcia’s administration of purchasing a ?3.3-million luxury SUV for ?4.4 million.

In a social media post, Osmeña alleged that the questionable vehicle transaction was the reason for Garcia’s delay in turning over documents to Archival’s transition team.

For Archival, the disclosure came as a shock.

“Because if you are going to buy a car which is P3.3 million and then you will charge the city government with P4.4, that is not acceptable,” Archival argued.

The mayor thanked Osmeña for obtaining the purchase orders and receipts that support the claim. He said he was already aware of the purchase but had been unable to access the documents.

“But the thing is if we are just going to let this past, the others will just follow, pwede raman diay, so this is something that is not good for the city,” Archival lamented.

In response, Garcia told reporters in a phone interview that the SUV purchase was canceled. He said the Cebu City Government did not pay a single centavo under his administration.

Garcia added that upon learning of the procurement request, he referred the matter to the Cebu City Legal Office. When the office issued an unfavorable opinion, he said he promptly canceled the transaction.

Asked if he had discovered other high-end purchases from Garcia’s term, Archival said the SUV had the largest amount but was not the only questionable expense. He declined to disclose additional items at this time.

However, he did cite one particular discovery: a shirt purchase that allegedly cost ?20,000.

“Tungod sa kadaghan mao ng di gyud nato matan-aw but rest assured nga gi hinay hinay na namo kay three days pa man na nako natan-aw,” said Archival.

“I would say that this is irregular,” he added.

Archival said such purchases may have contributed to the budget deficit his administration uncovered and could reflect a waste of public funds.

Garcia, for his part, has continued to deny the existence of a budget deficit. He previously stated that such a deficit would only occur if the current administration pays long-standing obligations, including those recorded as far back as 2008.

On his first day in office, Archival announced a review of City Hall’s finances and cited an initial observation of a roughly ?2-billion deficit.

Garcia rejected this, saying that the city had ?11 billion to ?12 billion in cash deposits when he left office.

Archival earlier cited an initial report from the City Budget and Treasurer’s Office, which showed that total revenue collection from January 1 to June 2025 reached ?5.49 billion.

Expenditures during the same period already totaled more than ?3.6 billion, with ?2.6 billion attributed to Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), including Job Order (JO) wages.

Archival warned that if monthly spending continues at this pace, the city will likely run a deficit, as most tax collections occur in the first half of the year.

Garcia countered that JO wages only account for about ?100 million and could not trigger a deficit.

He argued that a budget shortfall would only arise if the city decided to settle all its outstanding payables and obligations, some of which, he said, date back to previous administrations—including that of former Mayor Osmeña—from 2008 to 2010.

“That is over 20 years na nga mga payables. Even during my term, naa koy gipaymayran nga 2020, 2021, so if you pay all of those, tingali,” Garcia previously said.

He maintained that no budget deficit occurred during his term.