For the nth time last week, the Cebu City council failed to tackle the proposed P2.8 billion supplemental budget that is up before it. That is because all nine members of the BOPK present voted to refuse taking up the proposal. The six members of Team Rama present voted to deliberate on the proposal but were outnumbered. With any future voting expected to stay split along party lines, expect the proposal to remain dead in the water until a new council emerges after the 2016 elections.
Now, we do not want to get caught in the political issues that have crippled the measure. But we believe Cebuanos deserve to know who and how their city councilors voted on the proposed supplemental budget, just as they should know what the money sought to be allocated in the supplemental budget is mainly intended for so that they can make informed decisions, especially now that elections are coming and candidates for the council are expected to come begging against for their votes.
The bulk of the supplemental budget is obligated payment for the remainder of the SRP loan. A large part of what will be left from the proposed allocation will be for payment of garbage services. Another huge chunk of the balance will go to the incentive bonuses of City Hall employees, as mandated by a Malacañang order. Then there are the little things like terminal leave payments to two former councilors as well as payment for a catering service owned by the girlfriend of a councilor.
So, for the information of all Cebuanos, this is how their councilors voted on the supplemental budget. Those who voted to effectively block the supplemental budget were BOPK councilors Eugenio Gabuya, Alvin Dizon, Lea Japson, Nida Cabrera, Sisinio Andales, Roberto Cabarrubias, Margot Osmeña, Alvin Arcilla, and Mary Ann de los Santos.
Those who voted to move the proposed supplemental budget along and subject it to floor deliberations were Team Rama councilors Dave Tumulak, James Cuenco, Noel Wenceslao, Richard Osmeña and Gerry Carillo. Vice Mayor Edgar Labella also voted along with the Team Rama councilors. Thus, by a 9-6 vote, the BOPK yet again managed to stall the supplemental budget with its slim victory over Team Rama.
We will leave to the wisdom of the Cebuanos how they will deal with a city council that is supoosed to be mandated to act only in the public's best interest. The Cebuanos can certainly discern from the facts presented above which councilors are truly taking up the cudgels for the populace and who have failed them in their expectations.
The elections may still be a few months away but it is to the advantage of the Cebuanos that they start memorizing names based on what they intend to do as a result of the ongoing impasse on the budget at the city council. With neither praise nor condemnation for one side or the other, the facts have been presented, the role of the actors defined. It is now up to the people of Cebu City how they choose to exercise their sovereign will.