Fuel fund slashed by half City Council approves SB2

CEBU, Philippines - After four months, the Cebu City Council finally approved the Supplemental Budget No. 2 but with some adjustments.

The council passed yesterday two ordinances authorizing the operation of Supplemental Budget No. 2 for General Fund amounting to P243,572,965.77 and Supplemental No. 2 for Special Accounts amounting to P 23,020,779.

But only P243.5 million of the proposed P267.8 million SB2 for General Fund was approved while SB2 for Special Account was approved as proposed.

A bulk of the reduction is in the proposed budget for gasoline, oil and lubricant expenses which was cut by half from P30 million to P15 million.

Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa moved that the budget for fuel and gasoline be cut since the year is drawing to a close, believing the city does need that much for fuel expenses.

Abellanosa said the General Services Office only needs budget for November and December while it is asking for 30 percent more of the P100 million 2012 budget for fuel or equivalent to a three-month supply.

He said the other P15 million of the P30 million proposed fuel budget may be used for others like the bonus for City Hall employees.

Councilor Margarita Osmeña said the figure was based on the need since October when the final draft budget was submitted by the executive department.

But Councilor Noel Wenceslao said the month of October was already covered by an emergency purchase made by the GSO.

GSO Head Rolando Ardosa said they were able to purchase fuel from savings and were able to save a little after implementing  the austerity measures that kept the city vehicles running for October until last week.

This week’s supply is owed to the credit line opened with the city’s supplier.

During the final deliberation of the proposed SB 2, Abellanosa suggested to require first the GSO to submit a utilization report before the council approves the budget.

He said that “luxury vehicles” recently distributed to the barangays might be eating up the city’s fuel supply, referring to the Sports Utility Vehicles issued by Mayor Michael Rama to barangay captains.

“We can’t be sure if our fuel is properly utilized or if the bulk is wisely used for what is important,” Abellanosa said.

But Ardosa said the SUVs only get a small share from the city’s fuel supply.

He said the bulk of the city’s supply goes to the garbage trucks, both of the Department of Public Services (DPS) and the barangays, the police vehicles and the engineering department’s heavy equipment.

The city’s actual monthly fuel consumption is P11 million per month.

Ardosa said the P15 million will not even last until December. A week before the year ends, they will have to look for a new source.  He said the P30 million was supposed to carry over until January in case the annual budget will not be approved in time.

Ardosa said given half of what they proposed, the austerity measures implemented on fuel allowance will stay until the annual budget is approved next year.

Barangay captains and even the councilors shall continue to subsidize their fuel expenses if they have already used up their allowance for the month.

Austerity measures were implemented for vehicles except for garbage trucks and police cars so as not to hamper the services.

Other items reduced by the council in the SB 2 were the funds for security services from P10.6 million to P6 million.

Osmeña said they did not include the proposed budget for the blue guards who have not been hired. They also made adjustments in the salaries of BINs after they found discrepancies in the actual computation of their salaries.

The P5,340,000 for the honorarium of Barangay Environmental Officers (BEOs) supposedly to cover the months of August to December this year was reduced by P1,050,000 after Councilor Nida Cabrera reported that the fund for August has already been released.

The P17 million proposed tipping fee payment for the garbage diverted to the private landfill in Consolacion was also reduced to P14 million after computation shows the city only needs P14 million to cover a specified period.

Rama heaved a sigh of relief upon learning of the approval of SB2.

Even with the reduction, Rama said the approved P243-million SB 2 for General Fund is better than nothing. — /LPM (FREEMAN)