Ah, hole

Egay Uy

AT the supposed briefing of the city government department heads on what the “committee of the hole” will require as part of the justifications of the proposed 2016 city executive budgets, fireworks almost sparked between the hole committee chair and the city social welfare department officer, Teddy Sabugaa.

The hole committee chair required department heads to submit their respective statements of expenditures from January to September 2015, but Mr. Sabugaa asked what was the basis of that requirement.  Unfortunately, this query was not categorically responded to hence it remains a hanging query.

There is a thin line that separates the two positions. The committee may be encroaching on the prerogatives of the local chief executive in the area of budget execution which clearly pertains not to the local legislative body but to the local chief executive.

If the city council wants to exercise is oversight authority, it cannot go direct to the department heads because the latter are outside of the scope of the city council’s authority.  Department heads report to the city mayor not to anybody else.

While an exercise of good offices may also mean harmony and effectiveness in the delivery of basic services to the people, reality in this part of the country tells us that partisan and blind-obedience politics have played a very significant and influential role and have blocked earnest efforts at serving the people the best way possible.

We were not born yesterday.  Ah, hole.

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The “hole committee” also suggested that the department heads “lobby” with their city committees for a smooth approval of their proposed budgets.  While this is not necessary, he said, it will help facilitate approvals.

It looks palatable on the surface but reality tells us that when it comes to voting time, only one agendum is in the mind of the majority.  And you know what I mean.

During the 2015 budget deliberation, one city councilor “boasted” that he supported the budget proposal of one department, “After all I have been there and I know the requirements.”  Sadly, after the passage of the budget, the remark became, “I tried but I was the only one” and he still voted for the approval of the council-prepared budget, not the executive-proposed one.

End of story.

 (Egay Uy is a lawyer, city hall consultant, and chairman of Task Force Hapsay Dalan.)