Tom to prioritize senior citizens, South Road Properties, schools in next three years

Friday, June 15, 2007
The Freeman

Financial assistance for senior citizens, better tax collection, more school buildings and the promotion of the South Road Properties will be the priorities of Mayor Tomas Osmeña for the next three years.

Osmeña said he intends to allocate P50 million as financial subsidy for senior citizens who are residents and voters of Cebu City.




By next year, the mayor said that senior citizens could already start receiving at least P2,000 a year from City Hall-P1,000 during Christmas and another P1,000 during their birthday.

At present, a team is already formulating the guidelines for the claiming of such benefits and the mayor stressed that only senior citizens who are residents and voters of Cebu City are entitled to such benefits. Programs for senior citizens have always been among the priorities of the mayor. In fact, a Senior Citizens Center has been constructed at the South Road Properties.

Osmeña said the city government will also start bidding the 30-hectare portion of the SRP near barangay Mambaling.

There are already ongoing negotiations for the area but while these are not yet final, the city is doing “cosmetic” work there such as the construction of a fence.

Osmeña said an investor has already offered to buy the property for P2 billion but the city has not made a decision on the proposal yet. The 30-hectare property is being sold at P7,000 to P13,000 per square meter or around P2 to 4 billion. The mayor said the city is still open for other offers.

Another priority project of the city government is the construction of more school buildings. The mayor said that the city has P30 million unprogrammed funds from Malacañang, surplus from last year and from the pork barrel of the mayor’s brother, Senator Sergio Osmeña III. The mayor said these funds will be used for the construction of additional classrooms for the different schools in the city.

The mayor said that the thrusts of the city government remains the same but “we’re always looking for changes because we want to get better.”

He said that there would be more changes in the internal operations in the City Hall, which include plans to make tax collection more effective. — Wenna A. Berondo/QSB