Tom: Rama must give aid to BOPK barangays too

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña yesterday said Mayor Michael Rama may violate the provisions of the anti-graft law if he continues to delay the release of the financial aid to barangays whose barangay captains are not his supporters.

Although Osmeña said he has no plan to initiate legal moves on behalf of the concerned barangay officials he said the people must know that the mayor withheld the financial aid that was allocated to them by the Cebu City Council.

A P400-million budget was approved by the City Council for the granting of financial assistance for barangay infrastructure projects under the Local Development Fund.

Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, chairwoman of the City Council’s Committee on Budget and Finance, said most of the barangays have an allocation of at least P3 million for financial aid while bigger barangays with a higher number of voters can avail of bigger budgets.

The south district congressman criticized the creation of a so-called Project Review Implementation and Monitoring Office (PRIMO) whose members come from different City Hall departments to help implement the program.

Osmeña said almost all barangay captains who are allied with the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) until now have not yet received their financial aid from City Hall.

Although Rama had said that the delay in the release of the budget is because of the failure of the concerned barangays to submit the required supporting documents, Osmeña said the mayor has the discretion to give or not.

“Discretion is one of the components of corruption. Monopoly plus discretion minus transparency is equals corruption,” he told the reporters.

The executive order recently issued by Rama provides that PRIMO will be the one to review the list of projects that the barangays plan to undertake to ensure that the projects are aligned with the Social Development Program Agenda.

It was stated that the city will assist the barangays in the preparation of the Programs of Works and Estimates through the Department of Engineering and Public Works and then it will also assist the barangays in the conduct of bidding and in fulfilling of other technical requirements. –(FREEMAN)