P664M budget hits snag at city council

CEBU, Philippines - The P664.2-million proposed Supplemental Budget 2 once again stalled at the Cebu City Council after members requested a breakdown of the P257.5 million in unappropriated balance of the 2014 annual budget identified as fund source.

The Council also requested the executive department to submit a certification that there is no duplication in the identification of fund sources.

The unappropriated balance represents millions worth of allocations for projects and other items what were not used or implemented this year.

SB II is intended to pay the city’s obligations for the remaining months of the year and to fund several programs and projects.

During a budget hearing yesterday afternoon, City Council Budget and Finance Head Margarita Osmeña questioned how the executive department derived at the funding sources without the corresponding details attached to the proposed measure.

She said the council must be furnished with all the needed documents tomorrow so members could peruse over them prior to the scheduled budget hearing next week.

SB 2’s fund sources, identified by the executive departments Local Finance Committee, includes P30.3 million from the reversion of accounts payable for the years 2008 to 2011, which were “dormant accounts” for at least three years already; retained operating surplus for 2013 amounting to P211.3 million; P257.5-million unappropriated balance for 2014; and P2.2 million realigned budget from continuing appropriations for 2010.

Osmeña said certifica-tions of these funding sources are needed for the Council to verify if there are duplications or not.

She also floated the possibility that the funds may include payments for those who may not have been amply notified that their money is already available.

“Assure (us) by way of certification that these funding sources have not been used in the past, including the certification of accounts payables from our city accountant and the list of payees of the accounts from 2008 to 2011, because they may not have been properly informed,” she said.

“Please give us the details so that we can be guided accordingly because we are in a quandary. I don’t believe that amount (sources of funds),” City Councilor Sisinio Andales also said.

Another set of budget hearing was scheduled on September 2 for the proposed measure.

During the budget hearing yesterday, City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas said they came up with sources of funds “over and above the income against the expenditures of the annual budget.”

She explained that the city has a balance of P1.5 billion out of the obligated P2.2 billion of the P3.7 billion collected revenues as of August 13 this year.

On the other hand, City Attorney Jerone Carillo told the Council on the legality of the fund sources.

“It is clear that unexpended balances of appropriations covered in an appropriation ordinance shall revert to the unappropriated surplus of the general fund at the end of the fiscal year and may be spent through subsequent enactment or supplemental appropriations, hence, this SB 2 proposal,” he said.

For reversion of accounts payables, Castillo said the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines “allows the reversion of unliquidated balances of accounts payable which has been outstanding for two years or more and against which no actual claim, administrative or judicial, has been filed or which is not covered by perfected contracts on record.”

“In previous years, the City of Cebu has passed and approved supplemental appropriations, utilizing as one of the fund sources the ‘unappropriated balance of annual budget’ of a given calendar/fiscal year, which have undergone scrutiny and review by the DMB (Department of Budget and Management) pursuant to Sec. 326 of RA 7160 and have been accordingly declared operative in its entirety effective on the date fixed,” he added.— (FREEMAN)