Cebu City government hit over P270,000 ads

CEBU CITY — The Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan bloc in the city council criticized Mayor Alvin Garcia’s administration for spending a hefty amount on newspaper ads on the mayor’s accomplishments last month.

BO-PK councilor Michael Rama said during their session the other day that it was impractical for the city government to have spent P180,000 for the publication of Garcia’s accomplishment report.

Rama, who had chaired past Charter Day celebrations, said too much money was spent for the paid advertisements considering that they ran for days during the weeklong celebration of the 64th Charter Day anniversary last February.

A summary of expenses submitted to the council by city accountant Edna Jaca shows that the city government spent a total of P270,000 for the publication of Garcia’s accomplishment report and the Charter Day awardees in The Freeman, Sun Star Daily and Cebu Daily News.

The city government paid P60,000 to each newspaper for the publication of Garcia’s accomplishment report, P15,000 for the Outstanding Institution awardees and another P15,000 for the Outstanding Model Employees.

Rama said the budget could have been scrutinized earlier had the administration submitted a list of all its proposed activities for the Charter Week and their corresponding expenditures, to the council beforehand.

However, councilor Firmo Dayao, Garcia’s staunch ally, defended the city administration by saying it had to spend for the ads because the public needs to know the accomplishments of the city government. — Freeman News Service