New Dagupan SP majority fast-tracks legislation
SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET, 8 RESOLUTIONS PASSED
THE new majority in the Dagupan City Sangguniang Panlungsod immediately got down to business and passed in less than six hours the long-delayed Supplemental Budget No. 2 of 2023 amounting to P557 million, and eight vital resolutions concerning different programs and projects.
Councilor and new Majority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez, previously the minority floor leader before the 60-day suspension of three majority-bloc councilors, said he and his fellow legislators need to work double time to address the backlog in the council as shown by the significant number of pending ordinances and resolutions.
In a press briefing at the Gloria Maris Restaurant in Lucao a day after his group emerged as the new majority bloc, Fernandez said he and fellow councilors Jeslito Seen, Dennis Canto, Marcelino Fernandez and Bradley Benavides agreed to have two sessions instead of one each week, to be held every Tuesday and Thursday, and to devote Mondays and Fridays for committee hearings.
This way, he said, they will not only clean the backlog but can also help push various programs and projects of Mayor Belen Fernandez.
He recalled that they used to hold two session a week from 2019 to 2022, when he headed the majority bloc, until a new majority emerged and reduced the sessions to just once a week and conducted committee hearings only once a week and only after the regular sessions.
Councilor Fernandez, also the new chairman of the committee on finance, budget and appropriations, further assured that the council intends to deliberate on and pass the 2025 proposed budget before the end of the year.
He emphasized that they will see to it that the city government will no longer operate on a reenacted budget as what happened in 2023 and this year, when the council was controlled by the majority opposed to the administration.
As to the charge of Councilor Librada Reyna that Fernandez’s group cannot raise a quorum with their number, the councilor pointed out that under the Local Government Code, the determination of quorum includes the vice mayor and presiding officer. (Leonardo Micua)
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