Rosario finds Binmaley coffer almost empty
BINMALEY—It appears that the newly assumed mayor here has something in common with Dagupan’s Mayor Belen Fernandez: an almost empty coffer.
Mayor Simplicio Rosario, in his first two weeks in office, was shocked to find that the town’s funds for the year was almost entirely spent by the administration of his predecessor, former Mayor Lorenzo Cerezo.
Rosario explicitly said he is “mad” at Cerezo’s administration because by leaving him with hardly any money in the municipal funds, he will not be able to deliver services to the people.
Based on record, Rosario cited as an example that under the office of the mayor, the appropriation for gasoline, oil and other lubricants is P700,000 for the year.
“Believe it or not, as of June 30, it’s zero balance,” Rosario said.
The same is true with the office of the municipal administrator which has P500,000 for the same expense item but it also stands at zero balance as of June 30.
Appropriation for job order for workers was set at P4.32 million but only P2,188 was left on June 30 when Cerezo exited from office.
“They left us with very measly amount, it’s like loose coins only. Is this good governance?,” Rosario said.
Funds for indigents for one year were almost P3.1 million but only P100,000 remains.
He added that even if the town was not hit by any calamity in the first half of the year, Cerezo spent P1.7 million of the calamity fund.
For Gender and Development-related project, there was an appropriation of P1,033, 920 for the year 2013 but only P69,000 was left on June 30.
Most other items in the budget stand in the same poor financial status.
“Why were they like that? This is too much. The people here will suffer,” he said.
“Where will I get the funds? They should have spent only half of their budget,” said Rosario who is returning as a mayor following a failed re-election bid in 2010.
Rosario noted that when he left office in 2010, he handed over an appropriate budget plus a supplemental budget of P11-million.—Eva Visperas
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