Appear Only in Executive Session, Rama Told Heads

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama ordered his department heads not to appear before the City Council if it wants to discuss the city’s financial matters in a public hearing Wednesday.

Following Rama’s order, Cebu City legislators failed to hold their heads from shaking as they may not learn yet the latest financial status of the city.

The council had invited the city treasurer, city budget officer, city accountant, city resident auditor and the city administrator to its regular session to discuss the city’s financial status.

Some city legislators are reportedly worried about a Commission on Audit (COA) report that revealed the city’s ballooning overdraft of P965 million as of December 31, 2012.

Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña said the council just wanted to know the city’s present financial status since they heard reports that it has difficulty looking for funds for the salaries of its employees.

The COA reported that while the city had a little over P1 billion cash in banks as of last December 31, it has ‘payables’ amounting to over P1.9 billion.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mayor Rama said he would allow department heads to appear before the council only in an executive session, which the public is not allowed to witness.

The mayor said it is not right for his department heads to discuss financial matters during a public forum because he has not yet submitted the city’s Annual Budget for 2014 or a Supplemental Budget for this year. In a caucus with Bando Osmeña Pundok-Kauswagan (BOPK) councilors, legislators said it’s up to the mayor if whether or not he will allow his department heads to appear before the council.

On Tuesday night, city administrator Jose Marie Poblete told reporters that the department heads are willing to appear before the council on Wednesday’s session. “Amo lang g’yud nga klarohon ugma (today) kay ang mayor man gud ang magbuot.” Poblete said.

The councilors said they want to know how much the city’s actual revenue collections as of July 31 as compared to the estimated revenue collections as reflected in the Annual Budget.

They also wanted to ask the city accountant how much is the city’s unpaid financial obligations especially to suppliers and contractors. Councilor Osmeña had received reports that some contractors were not yet paid of their billings worth millions of pesos, submitted months ago.

The city’s annual budget for this year was P5.3 billion but the actual revenue collection as of June 30 was only P2.4 billion.

The city, however, is hoping that Filinvest Land Incorporated (FLI) would give the city its initial share from the joint venture agreement (JVA) amounting to P600 million.

Osmeña said she learned that there are infrastructure projects included in the budget that were not implemented because of the lack of funds.

Mayor Rama said he would send a letter to the council explaining the reason why he can’t allow department heads, particularly the members of the Local Finance Committee, to appear in a public hearing. The mayor feared that the council might subject these officials to scrutiny in public.

On Wednesday’s session there are representative from COA who will attend to talk about the city’s cash overdraft.