DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 April) – The city government is scheduling the release of supplemental budget 3 (SB3) by July this year after this week’s approval of the P465-million SB2, the city council finance committee chair said.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said the department heads have agreed to start working on the preparations for the budget this early during the committee hearings for SB2.
“We agreed that they will be preparing the documents,” Dayanghirang said. “If there’s money, the mayor will release it.”
The finance committee also targets the release of SB4, which includes the city’s obligations, including the scheduled bonuses of the city government employees, before December.
Dayanghirang said SB4 would include the yearly bonus, which would depend on the city’s surplus from collections by the City Treasurer’s Office.
According to the councilor, the Department of Budget and Management gave a leeway for the local government unit to identify the amount for the bonuses to see what is best for its employees.
For SB2, around 2,600 co-terminus and plantilla employees from City Hall and the Sangguniang Panlungsod received P20,000 each, aside from an initial P5,000 they received last year as part of their collective negotiation agreement as members of the Davao City Hall Employees Association (DACHEA).
December is also budget season for the council, which will deliberate on the annual budget for the 2016 calendar year.
The committee will also discuss the employees’ 13th month pay and the usual Christmas bonuses given by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Dayanghirang said the amount for the supplemental budget was carefully scrutinized during committee hearings, and that the “power of the city council is limited.”
“We cannot even insert a new budget,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dayanghirang said SB2 also allocated P1 million for each barangay, which would fund projects identified by the barangay council.
However, the local government units would have to make sure that there are sites available for the project and that these sites are government owned.
The City Engineer’s Office, he said, has been tasked to fast-track the processing of the documents for the barangay projects.
Dayanghirang said that the issue has been raised by the city mayor himself, including the Association of Barangay Captains president January Duterte and her husband Vice Mayor Paolo Z. Duterte.
Earlier, SB1 was released amounting to P600 million to fund the city’s solid waste management program.
