Belen with children during one of her campaign sorties. (Punchphoto by Butch Uka)

 

“AFTER taking a weeklong mourning of the family over the passing of our beloved mother, I now have a full schedule to listen and speak to 180,000 Dagupenos who want a leadership that takes full responsibility back, one that is responsive, accountable and transparent to the people at all times.”

This has become the concern of former Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez as she resumed her sorties in all the 31 barangays of the city on April 18 (Monday). She started out with mini rallies in the island barangays of Lomboy and Salapingao where she laid out her plans to bring back the many opportunities lost by the city in many spheres of endeavors after making it as the only billionaire city in Region 1 three years ago.

She and all members of the Belen-BK team were warmly welcomed by exuberant crowd cheering “Isa pa”, “ Isa pa”, “Isa pa” to their hearts’ content, many of whom said they sorely missed a caring mayor, who sees them and comes to their villages very often and asks them about their problems and the solutions that they wanted badly.

She campaigned in Lomboy and Salapingao with her running mate Vice Mayor Dean Bryan Kua and Councilors Luis Samson Jr., Michael Fernandez, Karlos Reyna, Dennis Canto, Teresa Coquia and Joshua Bugayong, also Sangguniang Kabataan chairman; former Councilor Jeslito Seen and Emong Vallejos, businesswoman Danila Cayabyab and Diane Decano, a registered nurse.

In Lomboy, Councilor Samson explained why the 2022 annual city budget has not yet been approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod. He said the delay was caused by the mayor’s office that took so long to submit all the required documents in support of its submitted Annual Investment Plan as directed by the DILG and the DBM.

Samson stressed that it is the power of the SP to scrutinize the budget submitted by the office of the city mayor in order to see to it that all the money appropriated for programs and projects will be really spent for whatever they were intended for.

He said they (members of the SP) could be sued and sent to jail if they will be remiss in their duties to thoroughly scrutinize the budget.

At the same time, Samson hailed former Mayor Belen Fernandez as the best mayor Dagupan ever had, citing the many awards for the city that earned Dagupan the prestige as the most progressive in Region 1.

Also in Barangay Lomboy, Councilor Canto said that if re-elected, he will propose that boat ambulances be provided for Lomboy and adjacent island barangays of Salapingao, Pugaro, Carael and Calmay that residents can use to transport sick residents to hospitals in mainland Dagupan any time of the day.

He cited Lomboy, which is too far away from the city proper, and, therefore, badly needs a boat ambulance that can bring sick residents immediately to the Region 1 Medical Center and any private hospital in downtown Dagupan.

Canto recalled how he and his father, Dr. Jesus Canto, former director of R1MC, used to conduct medical missions in Lomboy and other island barangays of Dagupan.

For her part, former Mayor Fernandez said upon her return to office, she will immediately activate operations the Dagupan Diagnostic Center and Lying-in Clinic which she put up during her administration but was set aside by the administration for purely political reasons.

“Sayang, malaking tulong sana sa ating mga mahihirap na pamilya, especially during the height of the pandemic, kung ginamit ang Dagupan Diagnostic Center na may component na Lying-in Clinic,” Fernandez sighed.

The P3.9 million worth of medical equipment include state of the art x-ray, ultra sound and CT scan machines as well as blood test laboratory, including a birthing station alongside with labor and delivery rooms of three-bed capacity.

Recalling her experiences as two-term mayor of Dagupan, Fernandez said: “I had faced many challenges when I was the city mayor and I have overcome them all.” (Leonardo Micua)

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