ONE last hurrah for the city treasury’s already dwindling funds.

This was the apparent intent of some of Dagupan City’s outgoing officials in planning new projects despite a mere three weeks left before they step out of office.

            The plot was, fortunately, aborted when only seven councilors showed up during their regular session last Monday, a count that is one person short to muster a quorum and legally pass a P10 million supplemental budget allotted ostensibly for additional projects of the outgoing city administration.
       

    Vice Mayor Alvin  Fernandez, who was on leave, called The PUNCH from overseas to voice his opinion that it is senseless for the outgoing administration to still plan new projects when the new administration headed by his father, Mayor-elect Alipio Fernandez, is taking over by July 1.

A source said the outgoing Lim administration sought the passage of the P35 million supplemental budget even before the election ban took effect but the city council failed to act on it.

A report said the amount was supposed to be sliced off from the city’s P35 million internal revenue allotment from the national government. This, however, was not earlier appropriated as most of the councilors were campaigning.

Observers construed that this is another sly maneuver by incumbent city officials to raid the city treasury for their own pecuniary advantage even if they very well knew that their time is almost up.

A councilor, who asked not to be named, said the P10 million they intended to appropriate belongs to them as it formed part of their pork barrel and wanted to make use of the same in order to leave additional legacy to their constituents.

Those present in the aborted session were outgoing Councilors Teofilo Guadiz III, Alex de Venecia and Nicanor Aquino, reelected councilors Michael Fernandez and Luis Samson Jr. and Charise Perez and Eric Muñoz, both sectoral representatives.

Guadiz, who is set to assume the post of assistant secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication effective July 1, presided over the session.

On leave, aside from Vice Mayor Fernandez, were reelected Councilors Farah Decano, Dada Reyna, Danilo Torio and Jose Netu Tamayo. Outgoing Councilor Vlad Mata, who lost in his vice mayoralty bid, was on sick leave.

Councilor De Venecia, who lost his reelection bid for a second term, took the opportunity to deliver his valedictory address.

But when the draft resolution seeking to appropriate the P10 million supplemental budget to finance additional projects of outgoing Mayor Benjamin Lim and members of the city Council was taken up, Councilor Fernandez raised the issue on whether there was a quorum.

It was learned that others that need to be funded by the P35 million salaries for May and June of emergency workers and seed money of P4.5 million to a city hall cooperative.

When the discussion on the quorum dragged on, the council declared a recess but the session was not resumed. The councilors had hoped to resume the session the following day.—LM

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