MBTF asks for special SP sessions for early passage
PENDING 2024 ANNUAL BUDGET
INVOKING Section 52, paragraph b of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code, Mayor Belen Fernandez wrote the Sangguniang Panlungsod on January 5, requesting the august body to hold daily special sessions to discuss and approve the Annual Investment Program and Annual Budget for 2024.
Fernandez also cited Section 323 of the Local Government Code that directed that if the annual appropriations ordinance was not passed up to the end of the preceding year, “no other business shall be taken up except the passage of the passage of an ordinance authorizing the annual appropriations.”
Mayor Fernandez said holding special sessions regularly will not only expedite the passing of the annual budget being a matter of public interest but will enable the SP to discuss and agree on other equally important issues affecting governance in the city.
She noted that the majority in the SP only scheduled weekly committee hearings (every Tuesday only) after every regular session, to act on the two measures like it did last year.
The mayor’s letter, which was received by the SP at 4:24 p.m. on January 5, was included in the Communications agenda during the January 16 regular session of the SP.
The mayor said that pursuant to Article 107 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the LGC, that appropriations ordinance has been certified as “urgent”.
Because of the failure of the Dagupan SP to pass the new annual budget before December 31, 2023, the city government was again forced to operate on a reenacted budget starting January 1, 2024.
The city government already operated on a reenacted budget last year after the SP failed to pass the budget before December 31, 2022. (Leonardo Micua)
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