THE CITY council here this week has passed and approved on second and third reading, an ordinance appropriating P16.639-million to be given as direct subsidies to the 29,697 registered electric consumers in the city “in the amount not exceeding P600 per consumer”.
The money is only around one-half of what is now in the city coffers intended for the purpose. City councilor Mariano Corro, in answer to a query why the city is withholding one half of the money, said they wanted to avoid being accused of “electioneering” and will just release the other half after the elections.
He said that the people, who’ve been enjoying the subsidy for three years already, might be surprised why the amount suddenly doubled.
Their opposition, on the other hand, might also accuse them of using the money to entice the voters or for “electioneering” purposes. That’s why, he said, they decided to release the other half next year.
To recall, the city government started giving electric consumers direct subsidies in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The first release was a little more than P600, the other two years below P600.
The subsidies come from the city’s annual royalties from the operations of geothermal plants in its mountains.
However, in 2007 and 2008, the city stopped receiving the royalties after the geothermal operations were privatized. The Energy Development Corporation, instead of remitting the money directly to the city as customary, remitted it to the national coffers where it went through the convoluted process of being remitted to the national treasurer, thereby needing the fund release to be included in the general appropriations act.
In a convention held here in Ormoc early this year, the exclusive group of geothermal producing and royalty receiving LGU’s passed a resolution asking Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her intervention in the matter, and order the immediate release of the funds for 2007 and 2008.
The President, on the other hand, acquiesced to the request and had the money released just a few weeks after her visit to the region in June.
Records obtained from the city treasurer’s office show that as of July 2, 2009, the city already had P33,066,810.46 to distribute to electric consumers under its direct subsidy scheme. Why the release was only decided this week is not clear.
Computations show that if the money, excluding the interest it would have earned for the three months that have lapsed already, will amount to P1,113.47 for each of the city’s 29,697 registered electric consumers if released in full. However, city officials only want one-half of the total amount released.
Meanwhile, a lawyer noted that releasing only one half of the money was quite unfair to electric consumers, and could be violating government accounting and disbursing rules, saying that it was for the years 2007 and 2008 and it is already 2009 now. “Maybe, this should be a matter that city auditors should look into”, he said. The lawyer declined to be named, saying that his opinion was just his own musing on the matter.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
di man siguro valid ang reason ni Corro. DI man mi mga bugo uwat o tanga nga maghunahuna nga electioneering na ang ila ihatag nga kwarta kay that money belongs to us. Di kaha maong gitunga na ang subsidy kay gamiton ang kwarta para sa ila pagdagan sa eleksyon o nagamit na ang kwarta? Kung dili sila nga kami maghuna huna ug dautan kung giasa na ang kwarta mas mayo pa nga ila na ihurot ug hatag ang angay sa katawhan sa ormoc. Kay kung dili nagpasabot lang nga sakto ang mga pagduda sa katawhan ug we will make sure that everyone will be accounted for.
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