Christmas woes

 THE Cebu City Government wants to spend P5.3 million for its employees’ Christmas party in December.

However, the executive department might have to look for another way to fund the event.

In a one-page resolution, Councilor Edgardo Labella seeks to charge P5,385,000 to the account for City-sponsored activities, which has a budget of P28 million for this year.

Breakdown

Based on the project proposal prepared by Atty. Evangeline Abatayo, head of the Human Resource and Development Office, the amount will cover the incentive allowance totaling P1,750,000 for the City’s estimated 5,000 employees.

The incentive allowance will be spent for the food for the party and will be released through payroll at P350 per employee.

Another P1,750,000 will be used to buy 5,000 pieces of ball ham at P350 each.

At least P1,250,000 will also be used to buy sacks of rice, with each employee receiving five kilos.

Other expenses include P430,000 for the purchase of various appliances that will serve as door prizes, P75,000 for the rental of lights and sounds and P130,000 to cover the prize to be given in various contests and honorarium of judges.

However, the council’s committee on budget and finance headed by Councilor Margarita Osmeña said the funds under the City-sponsored activities account are almost depleted.

Account balance

Based on the report submitted by the City Budget Office, the account’s balance is P9.4 million, as of Oct. 9.

“However, as reiterated by the budget office, this amount is not safe to use considering that a lot of requests were charged to this account,” she said.

Osmeña told Labella to secure first of a certificate of fund availability from the budget office before the council will approve his resolution.

In a phone interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, Osmeña said that under the budget ordinance approved by the council covering the City’s P5.2-billion budget this year, the Christmas party for the employees and the Sinulog and the Charter Day celebration this year were among those identified as priority items to be funded by the City-sponsored activities account.

“But we just want them to get that (certificate of fund availability) for the purpose of verifying if funds are still available,” she said. (Sun Star)