City PIO grilled over part in Rama sorties

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council yesterday warned public information officer Florito “Carlo” Dugaduga that allowing himself to be used as a tool to boost the reelection bid of Mayor Michael Rama and the candidacy of the other candidates under Team Rama is illegal.

Councilor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, chairwoman of the City Council’s committee on budget and finance, personally reminded Dugaduga that being the public information officer of Cebu City he should be independent and should not take sides whether for Team Rama and Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan.  

Dugaduga was grilled by the city legislators yesterday after he appeared before them to defend the P2.9-million proposed allocation for his office in the 2013 annual budget. He explained that part of the proposed budget shall be used to shoulder the expenses for the printing of monthly magazines and daily news publications informing the public of the city’s activities.

But Osmeña said she observed that the monthly publication BARUGG magazine is just being used to boost the image of the mayor and also to attack the members of the City Council who are mostly affiliated with the BOPK.

BARUGG stands for Bayanihan Advocates Rallying for Unity and Good Governance.

Councilor Alvin Dizon showed to Dugaduga a copy of BARUGG magazine last September that carried a banner story about the filing of charges before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas against Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña for using the two Dodge Charger vehicles that used to be owned by Michael Gleissner of Bigfoot Entertainment.

Dizon described the news article as biased because it had no side of the former mayor. Dugaduga, being the editor-in-chief of the publication admitted his lapses. He encouraged the city legislators to designate writers to help them make write-ups for the BARUGG magazines.

Dugaduga also admitted that he is involved in the nightly political activities for the candidates of Team Rama and confessed that during the “pulong-pulong” he tells the people about the good governance of the mayor.

According to Dugaduga he is just following the order of the mayor to help facilitate the pulong-pulong in the barangays.

Dugaduga said he will continue to help Team Rama during their nightly pulong-pulongs in different barangays because he believes that as a co-terminus employee of the city he is not among those prohibited to take sides during the election campaign period.

He also believes that the City Council may not approve the entire P2.9 million budget for his office because he heard Osmeña saying that the city legislators may not “arm” or give the PIO the budget that may be used against them.

Aside from the monthly BARUGG magazine, Dugaduga is also handling a TV program at CCTN which, according to Osmeña, is also being used to attack the City Council.  Dugaduga said the city does not pay for the airtime of the program as this was given free of charge by the station.

Councilor Sisinio Andales also told Dugaduga that he saw the latter in his TV program glorifying the Office of the Mayor and at the same time attacking the city council.

During the budget hearing yesterday, some of the concerned officials under the Office of the Mayor failed to appear to defend the budget for their office, like the allocation for the anti-squatting and demolition team which was increased from a mere P123,996 for this year to P3.5 million in 2013.

Osmeña said those who failed to appear during their schedules may still be allowed to defend their budget, but only in the later part of the budget hearing. 

Rolando “Dodong” Llaguno, head of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs was among those who appeared before the City Council yesterday.  The city legislators were able to ask him about the progress of the distribution of the cash assistance at P4,000 to each of the senior citizens in the city.

Llaguno said as of yesterday over 7,000 senior citizens still have not received their cash assistance that prompted the mayor to conduct another redistribution of cash assistance in barangays where several beneficiaries have no received their benefits.

The OSCA head said envelopes with the name and picture of the mayor where the P4,000 was placed came from the Office of the Mayor and not from his office. The city legislators criticized Rama for distributing envelopes with his name and picture because it can be considered a political move.

The city legislators are now being careful in approving lump sum budgets for different offices because it can be used to hire only job order employees who are supporters of Team Rama.

It was also learned yesterday that the mayor had realigned the P2 million budget for the signages of the boundaries of the barangays.

Ben Baculi, head of the City Hall’s burial assistance program, appeared before the city legislators and asked them to approve his P20 million budget for the program to give P10,000 burial assistance to each of the families of every resident of the city.

According to Baculi the city needs P30 million, but if the City Council will just approve his proposal, he will just ask for a supplemental budget.  Baculi said there are 10 to 15 applicants for burial assistance program everyday.

There was no City Hall official present to defend the P8 million proposed budget for the Special Program for the Employment of Students, which was increased 100 percent from the present P4 million budget.  —(FREEMAN)