Saturday, December 30, 2017

Girlet bewails city’s budget for 2018

OZAMIZ CITY— This time, Acting City Mayor Irene “Girlet” Luansing is obviously enraged with the refusal of the City Council to go along with her plans to deliver good governance to the city.
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In a press statement circulated online dated Dec. 28, and a copy sent to the Philippine Preview, Luansing expressed her annoyance with former Bag-ong Ozamiznon partymates who, she said, blocked the passage of the P737-million 2018 Annual Executive Budget that she proposed last October.
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Although not named in her statement, a source from the mayor’s camp identified the city lawmakers as Matronillo Cartagenas, Fritz Neil Balgue, April Mecaros Cabantac, Rico Auman and lawyer Robert Cantago Jr.
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Luansing said these councilors passed a P633-million budget instead that is not concise with the necessities for working direction of the local government.
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She explained that the proposed P737-million budget is supposed to be used for the city’s peace and order program, transfer and control of every department’s operational resources, enhanced health services delivery, direct financial aid and livelihood assistance, disaster response and actions against drug abuse.
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She further said that social services should not be discretionary but mandatory and control of these resources should be not in hands of the local chief executive so that control will not rest squarely on the mayor whose only motive would be to intensify one’s political grip.
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“But that is not my style of leadership and governance,” she said in her statement.
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“Any right thinking legislator, who has concern for public welfare, would never oppose a budget with these features. Worse, the six City councilors gave nothing for peace and order activities! This is highly unthinkable given the huge law and order challenge facing the city, especially curbing illicit drug trade and related crimes, and addressing the problem of drug abuse in a sustained manner,” she added.
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Luansing’s also said she couldn’t remotely think that the long-standing association of the mentioned councilmen with the dark past could have influenced this decision.
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She justified that if she consents with the P633-million budget to take effect, Ozamiznons stand to lose big in building up its reform in local governance as well as slow up the progress of the quality of social services to its people.
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“We are now studying ways to overturn that decision, in the spirit of defeating this attempt by the dark forces of the past to let the light of change spread.”
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“Today, I am all the more emboldened to battle the dark forces of the past in order to secure a bright future for Ozamiz City,” she ended.
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As of press time, The Philippine Preview tried to contact any of the mentioned councilors but failed as some council employees told this paper the said councilors will say their piece in due time.
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MICHAEL MEDINA
Editor-in-chief
The Philippine Preview