Dagupan officials’ accountability in good governance
THE indictment of the three councilors, Redford Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta by the City Prosecution Service of Dagupan in connection with the affidavit-complaint for illegal detention, slander and disrupting a meeting filed last year by Vice Mayor Dean Bryan Kua and five councilors of the minority bloc, did not come as surprise to many.
It was, in fact, a legal action long overdue given the series of deliberate acts of obstructionism resorted to by the seven councilors that compose the majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The complaint filed was based merely on the three councilors’ unparliamentary conduct during a regular session. Their boorish behavior alone deserved the indictment.
Unfortunately, the complaint was not about the illegal procedures persistently resorted to by the majority as opposition based on the internal laws it crafted that violated not only the basic provisions of the Local Government Code but the Constitution’s principle of separation of powers between the executive and the legislative departments.
For still unknown reasons, the Belen Fernandez administration and the minority bloc chose to overlook these violations since 2022 that caused severe and irreparable damage to the conduct of governance in Dagupan City. No complaint was filed citing the deliberate attempt not to pass the annual budget even knowing there was a precedence.
Eight members of the provincial board of Quezon province were promptly suspended by the DILG in 2021 for 60 days as a preventive measure after of the Ombudsman decided they were remiss in their duty to pass the annual budget of the province. Hence, the Belen Fernandez administration could have saved the city from needless aggravation that led to unwarranted delays in the implementation of its program, including payment of salaries of city hall employees but it didn’t.
Based on the indictment of the three, Councilors Librada Reyna-Macalanda, Celia Chua-Lim, Alvin Coquia and Marilou Fernandez would have been indicted as well if the complaint on their failure to pass the 2023 budget was filed.
Because Mayor Belen Fernandez and the minority bloc didn’t file a complaint that resulted in delays in delivering services intended for Dagupeños, they, too, can be held accountable for failing to act accordingly to uphold the Local Government Code – a basic process for good governance.
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