
Originally Posted by
raboy50
Cebu City’s payables nearly P400M
-A A +ABy Jujemay G. Awit
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
THE Cebu City Government has close to P400 million in payables, according to a document that Councilor Margarita Osmeņa got from the Office of the City Accountant.
The payables were from 2012 until February of this year.
Osmeņa received a report that the City Treasurer’s Office is in danger of not paying over P160 million in vouchers because of the release of P4,000 for each senior citizen in the city last March.
Mayor Michael Rama, though, is confident that there is money in the city’s coffers as the cash aid for the elderly is already in the budget.
But when told of the payables of about P389 million yesterday, Rama said he will sit with his staff to look into this.
The bulk of the payables is for the Cebu City Scholarship Program, worth P100.7 million.
Of that, the biggest amount is for the University of Cebu (UC), which has three campuses, said Osmeņa. The City owes UC’s three campuses P36.5 million.
The second biggest payable under the scholarship program is for the Asian College of Technology (ACT), followed by the University of the Visayas.
ACT owner and president, Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa, said the City Government has not been paying his school for almost two years.
As far as Rama is concerned, the schools that were not paid have not accomplished the documentation requirements of the City Government.
Rep. Tomas Osmeņa believes otherwise. He thinks that the City does not have the money and is just making another issue out of nothing.
The congressman earlier told reporters that ACT was not given accreditation because the City Government could not pay for the scholarship program.
Abeth Cuizon, Councilor Osmeņa’s chief of staff, also said there are payrolls for scholars’ allowances that have not been paid.
Aside from the P10,000 education program for the Cebu City scholars, there is also another P10,000 cash allowance for those living in mountain barangays.
Councilor Osmeņa also remembered that the Red Carpet catering payable of over P5 million is still on the list, as well as another payable for Lola Mary’s, another caterer.
Cuizon also remembered payables for drugs and medicines worth P22 million as among those in the list from the Office of the City Accountant.
Osmeņa said that even City Treasurer Emma Villarete was hesitant in giving the go-signal for the release of the P240-million first tranche of the senior citizens’ allowance.
Last March 25 and 26, the City Government released P4,000 each to the Cebu City seniors as part of the P10,000 allowance for the year.
Rama insisted on giving the P4,000 cash aid, saying the elderly need it for their medicines and daily sustenance.
The City Government also has payables for utilities like electricity and water, as well as gasoline.
As of this year, day care workers, barangay environment officers and City nutrition scholars have yet to get their counterpart honorarium from the City Government.
Another big amount comes from merchandise companies.
“I asked for updates on the City’s payables and that was what I got,” Osmeņa told reporters yesterday.
“While there is a budget passed, it is just a piece of paper. There is still a question on whether there is funding available,” Osmeņa explained.
Sigeg panghatag ug SUV sa mga capitan ug 4,000 sa mga Sr. Citizen nga daghan man diay bayranan utang, Sige botar pa mo ni Rama aron ma bankrupt ang Cebu City