If the acting administration can provide funds for the fisherfolk of Bacolod City that have been affected by red tide, it should also find a budget for the BacoLaodiat Festival, Bacolod Councilor Claudio Puentevella said yesterday. Puentevella, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Finance, said the BacoLaodiat Festival slated February 5 to 7 requires a small amount of funds. If the acting administration can provide financial assistance of P2,000 to P3,000 for each affected fisherfolk, there is no question that the city has a budget, he said. Last year, they allocated about P4 million for the BacoLaodiat Festival, Puentevella added. Gasataya said the BacoLaodiat Festival will push through and that he did not say that the city has no funds for it. However, before the city could release funds to the BacoLaodiat Committee, he must be authorized by the SP to sign the memorandum of agreement between the BacoLaodiat Committee and the city, he said. Councilor Caesar Distrito, said earlier that the city will be paralyzed for the next 90 days until the 2016 annual budget amounting to P1.8 billion is approved. Acting Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran had cited Article 415 of the Local Government Code that mandates the council to continue to hold sessions without additional renumeration for each member until the ordinance authorizing the annual appropriation is approved, and no other business may be taken up during such session. Gasataya said the budget for the affected fisherfolk will be sourced from the funds of the Department of Social Services and Development. They have already submitted the names of the affected individuals to the DSSD and the City Agriculture Office that will identify the beneficiaries, he said. Puentevella said they want to make sure that the funds of the city will be properly used since the red tide advisory has already been lifted. Gasataya said they are waiting for the final results of the tests conducted in the coastal waters of Bacolod City. Meanwhile, Puentevella said his committee may conduct one or two more hearings before they could finally approve the 2016 annual budget amounting to P1.8 billion because there were two out of the 40 to 50 departments who failed to attend the fourth budget hearing he conducted yesterday Puentevella said almost all the departments were happy with the budget proposed by the City Mayor's Office. He will bring the concerns of some departments before the SP during its session tomorrow. He will invite the Bacolod Environment and Natural Resources Office and the Human Resources Office to the next hearing before he submits his committee report, he said. “I think we are comfortable with the P1.5 billion reinacted budget as of this time and we are given 90 days by the Department of Interior and Local Government to study whether to push for a bigger amount or use the reinacted budget,” Puentevella said. Puentevella said Gasataya should release the additional bonus of regular employees. He acted in bad faith when he vetoed the colatilla they added to the appropriation ordinance for the employees bonus because he knows he cannot return the ordinance to the SP, he said. Gasataya returned the appropriation ordinance appropriating P26 million for the bonus of regular employees with a line veto of the colatilla holding him and other department heads liable should the amount be disallowed. The Bacolod City Employees Union had signed a petition asking the SP to remove the colatilla so their extra bonus could be released. Meanwhile, Bacolod City College administrator Jonanna Bayoneta said their budget this year is about P25.2 million compared to P23 million last year. Bayoneta said they proposed last year the inclusion of 15 permanent teachers since BCC has only three at present. But this was not taken up because the city may have reached the maximum ceiling allowed by law, she said. They have 19 full-time contractual teachers whose contract expired in December 2015, she said. If they will not be hired, this will become a problem for the school, Bayoneta said.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO
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