The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) majority bloc was not stopped in approving the P337,052,121 city budget for 2009, despite protests by opposition lawmakers.
City Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso and minority councilors Rama, Oppus and Inting cast doubts on the “unjustified increase” of this year’s fund, which is 31% higher than last year’s budget.
The minority accused their colleagues of railroading the budget approval even when there were still pending questions raised on some items that needed clarifications.
Veloso adds that the approval breezed through SP deliberations in record-breaking time of just two regular sessions. He says that he could not recall any other meetings where the 2009 city budget was exhaustively discussed and scrutinized.
With the 2010 elections just around the corner, Rama pointed out that the “unjustified” increases in the budget could be used to woo votes.
While fellow opposition lawmaker, Kag. Oppus disclosed that the discretionary funds appropriated for the Office of the City Mayor surpassed the allowable cap specified by law.
Based on COA certified statements of income and expenditures of the city government, it has been observed that the city government is not spending what has been budgeted for.
In 2007, the city only spent 83% of total revenues (as budgeted) or only P259 million (based on actual obligations in 2007) against the P310-million in total revenues.
As indicated by the 2007 COA Report, the city had P187 million unused funds and are idle in various low-yielding deposits lodged in favored banks.
