The members of the city council and its presiding officer Vice mayor Daniel Fariñas will meet for its third regular session tomorrow to continue discussion on the 2012 annual budget of the city.

Particular matters to be deliberated are the non-office expenditures and the budgets of six departments that were not tackled in its last session, namely: the City Environment and Parks Management Office, the City Mayor’s Office, the Bureau of Fire Prevention and Safety, the City Legal Office, the City Budget Office and the City Administrator’s Office.

The council will also take up the capital outlay portion of the proposed budget to determine expenditures to be reduced to cope with the reduction in the Internal Revenue Allotment of the city of about P29 million.

As a means to address the reduction, the mayor has recommended reserving all “appropriations for motor vehicles” in the 2012 annual budget, particularly on the following: treasury office - P9M; mayor’s office - P1.2M; city police office - P2.4M, Baguio City jail office - P1.1M; fire prevention office - P9M; DepEd P1.5M; Irisan composting plant - P9.4M; and sewerage treatment plant- P12M.

In previous meetings, the local finance committee committed that the same amount reserved will be released if the city will be able to collect or hit its target revenue by last quarter of the year.

The council also discussed the Writ of Kalikasan due to its urgency especially that the Supreme Court has granted recently the prayer for the city to “cease and desist from making use of the Irisan dumpsite either as a temporary holding or staging area or as a dumping or controlled area for any and all kinds of solid waste.”

The CEPMO has repeatedly said before the city council that the Irisan dumpsite has long been closed as a dumping site with certain activities being undertaken for the stabilization and for making the area safe in compliance with the requirements of Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 or RA 9003.

Hon. Karminn Yañgot, chair of the committee on youth, is proposing an ordinance intended to “regulate the operation of internet cafes” and “create Internet Café Accreditation Board” in the City of Baguio.

“The piece of legislation is being pushed to protect the interest of our youth so they would be saved from being hooked into the bad effects of inappropriate use of the internet thereby affecting their overall development,” reads the proposal.

Among the guidelines prescribed are for internet cafe operators: 1. not to allow minor students stay in the premises of the establishment during class hours unless for specific educational or study purposes; 2. not to offer online and network gaming services during class hours; 3. to strictly prohibit inside establishment prohibited drugs, intoxicating beverages and cigarettes; 4. to post within the establishment signs against accessing pornography; 5. to strictly observe curfew for minors and out-of-school youth; 6. to maintain its establishment well-lighted and under good sanitary condition; 8. not to tolerate or promote indecent, lewd and immoral behavior inside the establishment; and 9. to provide roving personnel to monitor clients behavior to maintain decency inside the internet café.

The Internet Café Accreditation Board would be composed of the chair-city mayor; co-chairperson-vice mayor; action officer - permits and licensing officer; and members to be composed of the SK Federation president, chair of the committee on peace and order, ABC president, representative of Internet Café associations, representative of the TESDA-CAR, city legal officer, city police director, representative of NGOs identified with information technology-related advocacy; and the city schools superintendent.