THE Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod concluded its 2025 sessions with a final meeting on December 23, where Vice Mayor and Presiding Officer Bryan Kua highlighted the body’s remarkable achievement of enacting 35 ordinances and 253 resolutions in just six months.

This success was credited to the robust support of the super majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod, consisting of political allies of Mayor Belen Fernandez, including Majority Leader Councilor Michael Fernandez and Councilors Jose Netu Tamayo, Christel Hilary Paras, Jeslito Seen, Karlos Reyna, Daniele Francine Canto, Luis Samson Jr., Marvin Fabia, Jalice Cayabyab, Liga ng Barangay President Marcelino Fernandez, and Sangguniang Kabataan President Bradley Benavides.

In stark contrast, the previous council, comprising seven members who opposed Mayor Fernandez’s initiatives over the last three years, struggled to advance the administration’s goals and inadvertently stifled progress for the city’s residents. The lone remaining councilor from the former majority was unable to counteract the power of the 11 members aligned with Mayor Fernandez and Vice Mayor Kua.

Among the last actions of the current Sangguniang was the approval of resolutions that allocated money for Service Recognition Incentives (SRI): P20,000 for permanent employees and P7,000 each for job-order employees and consultants, along with a P5,000 Productivity Enhancement Incentive for all employees. This timely decision stands in contrast to the previous SP majority, which only approved SRI for employees in March 2o24, three months after Christmas.

Furthermore, the current Sanggunian passed the 2026 annual budget of P1.68 million well ahead of the deadline, while the 2023 budget faced delays and was only approved on September 23, 2023, after four members of the seven-man majority took simultaneous foreign vacations.

Vice Mayor Kua remarked, “Progress is swift without the hands of the obstructionists”. (Leonardo Micua)