ILOILO City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod’s appropriations committee is not keen on recommending a budget to the Local Youth Development Office (LYDO) and City Legal Office (CLO) for 2019.
According to committee chairperson Councilor Plaridel Nava, LYDO’s functions overlapped with the Sangguniang Kabataan’s (SK), citing the complaint of ex-officio SP member Leila Luntao, the SK city federation president.
The CLO, on the other hand, was performing poorly, said Nava.
The councilor said he was still not done making the committee report on the proposed 2019 Executive Budget amounting to P2.319 billion because of his concerns on the LYDO headed by Jason Gregorio and the CLO under Atty. Rulido Dela Cruz.
“We would recommend zero budget. I have to justify it. Biskan papel wala sila,” Nava told reporters.
According to Nava, the LYDO “daw wala garespeto kay (SK city federation) Chairman Luntao.”
What the LYDO could get, he said, would be the salaries of the office personnel because this is “a statutory requirement.”
“Pero bisan ang office supplies nila we will give them zero. This should make clear to them the message that Luntao deserves to be recognized as SK chairman,” said Nava.
Regarding the CLO, Nava said it had been remiss in its responsibilities such as submitting a position paper on the legal issue over Prime Water Infrastructure Corp.’s franchise application.
Also, he said, “Tanan nga kaso sang syudad pirdi. Wala kita sang success rate diri. Paano karun ni Mayor Joe (Espinosa III) ma-convince ang komitiba kag ang pumoluyo nga gusto nya may ara Prime Water? Ang abogado sang syudad waay ga-submit position paper. Kadamo sa ila dira.”
Nava denied politics had something to do with his committee’s zero budget plan.
“Ang aton we want to make a message. Sa ulihi mag-perform sila we can always make a supplemental budget,” he said.
Two more city government offices and a taskforce may be recommended for zero budget but Nava declined to identify them.
The councilor said his committee would also recommend a reduction in the number of casuals in each city government office by as much as 50 percent./PN
