VM cites gag order for delay in budget approval
VICE Mayor Belen Fernandez cited the gag order issued to department heads by Mayor Benjamin Lim as among the reasons why the city council was not able to enact a budget at the end of the year.
Speaking on the issue for the first time, Fernandez said it is not yet too late for the city council to approve a budget if only the department heads will cooperate and attend the budget deliberations that will be conducted at the start of the year.
She said the city councilors would like to invite not only City Administrator Vlad Mata but also the department heads to answer some questions pertaining to the budgets of their respective offices.
But the department heads, she lamented, will not do it since they are under orders not to attend sessions and hearings of the city council without the mayor’s clearance.
The gag order of the mayor is considered as the most contentious issue that divided the legislative and executive branches of the city government this year.
Fernandez said that the council will do every everything it can to ensure that the P568 million budget proposed by the city executive will really be spent for the programs and projects for which they are intended.
With the proposed budget P70 million higher than the budget for 2010, “we also want to be sure that the projected income of the city can be realized,” Fernandez said.
At the same time, the vice mayor announced that the city council approved a supplemental budget of P8.5 million proposed by the city executive in its special session last December 22.
The approval was made after Mata clarified that the supplemental budget will be spent for social services, ecological, environmental and sanitation services, youth and sports development and development management.
Part of the outlay will be spent for the cash gift of volunteer workers of the city and workers in garbage collection and disposal.
The P8.5 supplemental budget came from savings on personnel services at the end of the year.
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