By MARK FRANCISCO
CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Rolando Uy and his predecessor, lawyer Oscar Moreno, traded barbs anew on the fiscal status of the city government. The issue was triggered after Xavier University billed City Hall last January 3 on the use of its facilities at Manresa complex in upper Carmen as isolation units and temporary holding dormitories for affected persons and families during the Covid-19 crisis between March 2020 to April 2022.
The letter – signed by Xavier University facilities manager Haide May de Castro – stated that the city government incurred a total of P7,805,365 in payables during the stay of the Covid-19 patients there. (It was the Moreno administration via PhilHealth which shouldered the accommodation of these patients.)
Uy said in a press conference that the matter should have been settled during Moreno’s time considering the period cited in the letter.
“Ako paningkamotan nga mabayran nako ni before magsugod ang school year 2024-2025 kay daghan ta’g mga city scholars diha sa maong unibersidad,” Uy said without elaborating on how the college scholars would supposedly be affected since it’s an entirely separate matter. There are a total of 8,845 tertiary students currently enrolled at Xavier University as city-sponsored scholars.
Pressed on the issue, Moreno said Uy doesn’t understand the principle of continuity of the city government’s operation as an entity the moment it changed mayorship last June 2022.
“The life of a city doesn’t end with the mayor. The life of a city continues uninterrupted, and whoever sits as the new mayor is responsible for both the assets and liabilities inherited by the city at the time,” the former mayor said.
During his press conference January 15 at his office, Uy released to media a set of documents outlining the assets and liabilities of City Hall as of June 2022 just before Uy became mayor.
According to the list, the city government had a total of P9,639,442,043.67 of assets at the time and a total of P2,973,984,666.53 in liabilities.
But during the press conference, Uy repeatedly emphasized that the city only had a total of P356,358,151 of cash by the end of 2022 to work with versus the P2 billion in debt.
“Gibinlan lang kita og P356 million pagsugod nato og lingkod pero ang utang sa siyudad P2 billion,” he said.
Using the same document, Moreno said Uy failed to emphasize other items in the assets column such as receivables. In fact, he disclosed that the city government has still P30 million in receivables from PhilHealth due to the use of hotels and other accommodation facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic. These facilities, including the Xavier Univeristy-operated SEARSOLIIN and Manresa dormitories, are accredited by the government-run insurance agency.
“I can only hope that the Klarex Uy administration had pursued these claims, again pursuant to the principle of continuity,” Moreno said, using the incumbent mayor’s nickname.
Uy himself urged all hospitality suppliers of City Hall during Covid time to come forward and bill the city government just as what Xavier University had done. Even Moreno admitted that aside from Xavier University, there are more than 40 accommodation facilities that the city government used during the pandemic.
In his presentation, Uy said that City Hall had already paid as of December last year a total of P936,021,457.58 to suppliers owed since 2020. The amount does not include payables for infrastructure projects.
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