EDITORIAL - A costly move

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has stamped his promise when he slashed the financial assistance for the city's senior citizens. The elders are supposed to receive at least P12,000 this year, as promised by Rama during his State of the City Address in 2012.

The mayor announced that the senior citizens would only receive P6,000 this year. The reason, he said, is that the City Council did not approve his P10 billion budget proposal for 2014.

However, the appropriation for the senior citizen's budget has not been reduced. Councilor Margot Osmeña said it was even Rama who signed the P720 million budget for the elders this year.

It's hard to understand why the mayor decided to reduce the assistance for the senior citizens. The budget is already set aside for this year and it should be appropriated for such purpose.

Maybe the mayor wants some vengeance against the council for shooting down his budget proposal. Or maybe he wanted some amount of the elders' budget for other appropriations.

It is clear that Rama was not happy with the council, which is dominated by the opposition. And he seemingly wanted the senior citizens to feel the consequences of the council's move.

But hitting back at the council at the expense of the elders is a wrong move. It was clearly ill-advised because the senior citizens' assistance has never been affected by the council's move. 

The appropriation for the senior citizens is already there and there's no need for the mayor to reduce it as a reprisal.  Otherwise it would send a wrong signal to them. And they might think he no longer has the obligation to care for them.

It is undeniable that the giving of financial assistance to the senior citizens in the city is something political. So if Rama would make good his promise of slashing it, the result could be costly in 2016.