Cebu City’s P17B proposed 2025 budget still unapproved

CEBU, Philippines — It's just a week away before the year ends, and yet the proposed P17 billion annual budget for 2025 remains unapproved by the Cebu City Council, which could lead to a budget reenactment, according to Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.

In a press conference yesterday, Dec. 23, 2024, Garcia reiterated that he had already urged the Cebu City Council to fast-track the discussion on the budget so that he could sign its approval before the year ends.

“I hope it gets approved because they told me that on the 27th they will have their special session just for the approval of the budget, so I hope that on the 27th they can submit it,” said Garcia.

However, he expressed concern that since the 27th falls on a Friday, there will be time constraints for him to review how the council deliberated on the matter.

“Can you imagine, I send my letter now, if I sign it or I veto it? It will take time. Let’s say, for example, if I approve it, then there’s no problem. But what if I veto it? Then they also have the problem of overriding the veto, and time will keep running out,” said Garcia.

This particular concern, Garcia added, is one of the reasons why he sought to fast-track the approval of the budget so it could be implemented by January next year, especially for Sinulog-related expenses.

Should the council be unable to approve the budget within the year due to time constraints, Garcia said that the 2024 budget will be reenacted.

Once reenacted, the items already determined for this year, particularly for the Sinulog celebration, will be utilized, but only for Personal Services (PS) and Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).

The MOOE also includes the budget allocations for Sinulog.

When asked for his thoughts on the delay in approval, Garcia, who began his term as Vice Mayor and council presiding officer, said he would prefer to give the council the benefit of the doubt.

“Nga ila gyung gihashasan, ug ila gyung gitan-aw, pero hopefully walay politika involved sa ilang paghashas ani, tan-awon lang nato,” said Garcia.

Although the P17 billion proposed budget for the 2025 fiscal year has already undergone a marathon budget hearing, it has not yet been formally tackled by the Cebu City Council, whose approval is crucial for its passage.

Garcia also pointed out that the amount proposed this year should not be a concern since the city council even approved a P50 billion budget in 2023. For 2024, the original budget proposed was P100 billion but was reduced to P25 billion, which he said reflected unrealistic figures as they did not align with the targeted revenue.

Garcia earlier expressed optimism in the approval of the P17 billion as it was more realistic.

“I don’t want to second-guess, we will wait,” said Garcia.

Garcia, however, said that should a reenactment of the 2024 budget be implemented, recurring expenses, such as those for Sinulog, would not pose much of a problem.

He added, however, that infrastructure projects, which fall under Capital Outlay, would be directly affected.

“Because I cannot use them anymore since it’s reenacted for this year,” said Garcia.

He emphasized that priority infrastructure programs can no longer be implemented with the reenacted budget.

Garcia had previously said that since Sinulog falls in the first month of the year, it is vital for the annual budget to be approved so that corresponding subsidies can be released to the participating contingents.

It was previously reported that to entice more participants to join the competition, the city government is increasing subsidies to as much as P1.5 million for out-of-town contingents, up from P800,000. Cebu City barangay contingents will each receive P1 million, up from the usual P700,000, while contingents from Cebu Province will also receive P700,000.

Previously, Councilor Noel Wenceslao, chairman of the Committee on Budget and Finance, also said that based on the budget hearing, there may be a possibility the proposed budget will be slashed due to the unclear source of funds. — (FREEMAN)