REENACTED BUDGET LOOMS

DAGUPAN City is close to operating with a reenacted budget up to the end of the year after the Indicative Annual Procurement Plan (IAPP) in lump sum form submitted to the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) by the office of the city mayor on December 20, 2021 was found inconsistent with the proposed annual budget.

The detected flaws will require further amendments  and revisions with only two weeks left before the March 31 deadline.

Councilor Jose Tamayo said the IAPP prepared by the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) and noted by Mayor Brian Lim does not reconcile with the provision of the annual budget proposed by the executive department for year 2022.

Tamayo said that there is a big difference in numbers between the submitted IAPP and the proposed annual budget, the latter being overstated as compared to the former, thus there’s a need to reconcile their figures.

He cited the medical and dental laboratory supplies and expenses which was pegged at P17.7 million in the IAPP but it is P22.8 million in the annual budget; welfare goods and expenses, P13.1 million in the IAPP but P46.8 million in the annual budget; food supplies and expenses, P5.05 million in the IAPP but P7.75 million in the annual budget; office supplies, P9.8 million in the IAPP but P19.1 million in the annual budget; oil, lubricants and expenses, P14.1 million in the IAPP but P17.3 million in the annual budget; and supplies, materials and expenses, P5.005 million in the IAPP but P10.04 million in the annual budget.

Tamayo said it is not within the power of the SP to amend or revise any document submitted by the mayor’s office to facilitate the process,  so SP Majority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez suggested that the Sanggunian has no choice but has to return the document to the executive department to make the necessary corrections.

Councilor Luis Samson Jr. interjected that the very reason why the SP was asking  the executive department to submit the IAPP and other important documents is to ensure that every peso in the city budget would be spent for the purposes they were really intended.

“Nag-submit nga sila ng IAPP pero mali-mali naman”, Samson intoned, lamenting that such miscues will further delay the approval of the 2022 annual city budget.

The defective IAPP was drafted and prepared by the BAC, signed by its secretary Mary Chong and its chairman, City Assessor Alan Dale Zarate and noted by Mayor Lim.

It appeared that while City Budget Officer Jessa Royupa’s office prepared the annual city budget together with the other members of the city’s finance committee, in consultation with other departments and offices of the city government, Royupa, a member of BAC, was not involved in the preparation of the IAPP.  (Leonardo Micua)

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