Baricuatro transition team reviews, surprised over Cebu prov'l budget for 2025
ESGANA
The transition team of Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro was surprised over the 2025 annual budget of the province.
Jose Esgana, the former mayor of Santa Fe, Cebu who headed Baricuatro’s transition team, said they learned that the province’s P25-billlion annual budget has some allocation that is not usual in budget appropriation.
Esgana, a Certified Public Accountant, noted the unusual allocation for non-office expenditures.
He questioned the allocation for capital outlay where P1.6 billion was inserted for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
Esgana said the budget for capital outlay and MOOE are usually allocated separately.
He said it is now up to Baricuatro to review the budget allocations.
“It will depend on our new governor if she will look into it and ask how this happened,” Esgana said in a press conference on Wednesday, July 2.
Esgana said the transition team decided to publicize their findings on the province’s 2025 annual budget as no one from the camp of former Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia faced them to discuss the matter.
He said that out of the P25-billion 2025 annual budget, P19 billion was allocated under the Office of the Governor, a budget allocation that will be followed by Baricuatro.
He said the transition team was not able to determine how much was left from the budget.