“Too late the hero!”- Majority

SEVERAL hearings on the proposed 2011 budget of Dagupan, undertaken by the city council en banc, have come and gone.

But suddenly last week, the minority group in the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), raised the question of why the budget hearings are being done before the council as a whole.

Councilor Redford Erfe Mejia, the lone member of the minority group led by Councilor Brian Lim, in a privilege speech last January 31, asked why the budget hearing is being conducted by the committee en banc presided by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and not by the committee on finance.

Councilor Maybelyn Fernandez, who referred the budget hearing to the committee en banc, replied that Mejia’s question is no longer valid at this point because that issue should have been raised at the time that the referral was made.

“I believe Councilor Erfe Mejia was present when I referred the budget proposal to the committee en banc and no member of this body manifested his or her objection at that time. In fact all of us already participated during the budget hearing,” Fernandez said.

She added that the minority in the council are now under estoppel, a legal rule that prevents someone from stating a position inconsistent with a previous one, especially when the earlier statement has already been put into effect.

“The fact that all of us actively participated during the previous hearing — nag-question naman sila, may mga tanong sila, and I don’t think there was even an instance when they raised their hands and not recognized by the presiding officer,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez pointed out that parliamentary procedures dictate that the SP cannot go back to an issue that had long been discussed and settled.

“We can’t go back on what we have already settled,” she said.

Councilor Jesus Canto echoed Fernandez’ position saying the minority’s question is now “already moot and academic”.

He felt that the members of the minority insinuated that they did not stand up to object when the hearings were referred to the en banc because they didn’t have the numbers to do otherwise anyway.

Fernandez said the minority should still have objected then and their position would have been reflected in the minutes of the council session. “By keeping silent, they joined the consensus,” the vice mayor said.

“Does the minority want to delay the process further by changing the process midway?” she asked.

RESOLUTION

Meanwhile, Lim, the minority leader, proposed that a joint resolution by the members of the majority and minority be passed assuring the passage of the 2011 budget before the March 31 deadline.

The move was rejected by the majority of the council.

“We will pass the budget with or without the resolution,” said Fernandez, stressing that such a resolution is unnecessary because they were elected by the people and are accountable to them.

“We will act on the budget with utmost diligence because we need to as representatives of our people not because of a mere resolution in an obvious play for politics, or because we are being called names for refusing to be a rubber stamp. If we fail to pass the budget, we will explain and will be accountable,” she said.

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