TWO Cebu City councilors are pushing for the immediate implementation of a plan to give P5,000 each year in financial assistance to more than 4,500 solo parents in the city.
Councilors Margarita Osmeña and Eugenio Gabuya Jr. filed a proposed ordinance to amend City Ordinance (CO) 2395, originally proposed by former councilor Gerardo Carillo, on the giving of the cash aid.
“There is a need to amend CO 2395 for the immediate implementation of the ordinance that will certainly aid the solo parents in their struggles of being the sole provider for their children,” the councilors said.
The proposed amendment addresses the general guidance for the cash aid.
It states that applicants for the financial assistance should already be a registered voter in the city and had voted during the 2013 national, local and barangay elections. They should also have voted in the elections after 2013.
Carillo’s version of ordinance, which the council passed in May 2014, states that applicants for the financial assistance must have voted in three consecutive local and national elections.
This provision had been a subject of debate among members of the previous council.
It had been the basis used by the majority bloc, then composed of the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), for not approving a P40-million budget proposed by the administration of then-mayor Michael Rama supposedly to cover the solo parents’ financial assistance. Carillo is an ally of Rama.
The majority bloc had said the cash assistance cannot be released yet because no one was qualified. The solo parents can only receive it in 2022 or three consecutive local and national elections after the ordinance’s approval.
Carillo, at that time, argued that solo parents who voted in the previous consecutive polls were already qualified for the program, but that did not convince the majority bloc.
In an interview yesterday, Gabuya said they want CO 2395 amended so the guidelines will be clearer and so the City can help the solo parents.
Asked why they only sought the amendment of Carillo’s ordinance now and not during the term of the previous council, Gabuya said he had suggested it to Carillo then.
“But murag wa man nadayon. Naabtan na lang siguro ug election (That didn’t push through. I guess it got overtaken by the elections),” he added.
Had the council released the cash assistance to the solo parents during the previous administration, Gabuya said, they might have been held liable by the Commission on Audit.
Under Gabuya and Osmeña’s proposed amendatory ordinance, the P5,000 financial assistance should be released in full on or before March 21 of each year.
During the council’s Sept. 6 regular session, the proposed legislation was referred to the council’s committee on laws for review and recommendation.
