Where’s the “shared responsibility”?
By Vice Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, Dagupan City
(Following is the full text statement of Vice Mayor Fernandez over the budget issue in Dagupan City.)
Nakakasakit po ng damdamin ang ginagawa ni Brian Lim na isang miyembro ng Sangguniang Panlungsod. Ang ibinabato niya ay we did not pass the budget dahil sa politics ngunit alam niya ang katotohanan na ang problema ay nanggagaling sa mayor’s office.
Ang hindi namin pagpasa at patuloy na pagreview sa proposed 2011 budget ay dahil hindi matapos-tapos ang pag-aaral nito sa dahilang ayaw makipagtulungan ang mga department heads sa sanggunian.
Napakakapal po itong proposed 2011 budget ngunit kunti lang ang detalye para maintindihan ng mga councilors. Hindi bale kung ito’y 10 pages lamang. If perhaps we are lazy as the mayor irresponsibly called us, that budget would have been approved without reviewing it. I believe the Mayor wants us to approve it “without looking”, gaya ng sabi ng iba.
And as we continue the review, we note many alignments and increases that need further explanation to justify its approval for the benefit of the city.
And more importantly, we cannot have a budget where the city cannot raise the money to support the city’s projected expenses based on the budget. Ayaw naming magpasa ng budget na marami pang gagastahin kaysa sa income na kung mangyayari ito, ang siyudad ay mangungutang na naman. Hanggang ngayon, hindi pa nakikita ng sanggunian ang actual income and expenses ng siyudad last year. Hopefully, that will be finally presented to the council next week.
Secondly, I want Dagupenos to know that hindi apektado ang siyudad in not passing the 2011 budget. As everyone can see, the city of Dagupan is operating under normal circumstances, so it’s regrettable that city hall would resort to lies to mislead our people.
The law is clear that if we know that if we do not pass the budget, we will operate on a re-enacted budget and based on Sec. 623 of the Local Government Code, it will not have any effect on salaries of personnel, on essential operating expenses, statutory obligation of the city, etc.
Ang apektado lang ay ang capital outlay but this will be restored once the budget is finally approved.
It is important that we insist on a thorough review and study of the proposed budget. We are doing this because we want to avoid what happened in the past, e.g. failure of the city government to pay electric bills and salaries of employees on time, the purchases of properties that cannot be used, including wasteful use of resources.
I am sure our people are with us in demanding honest and transparent governance from accountable city officials including ourselves. Gusto ng tao na ipasa ang budget na pinag-aralang mabuti para masigurong hindi apektado at ninanakawan ang publiko.
We, in the sanggunian, are hopeful that we will finally move on with the review of the budget with the expected appearances of City Administrator Vlad Mata and City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara in our January 18 budget hearing. (We noted that our city treasurer was on leave in December and the city administrator left for Japan to visit his family and both would be back by then).
Sana they will come and provide the city council the answers to our questions about the budget. Sana they will truthful.
For example, why is the budget for health reduced by P5 million, from P35 million in 2010 to P30 million in 2011, yet the budget for social services was increased to P112 million from only P49 million in 2010.
At saan kukunin ang pera para pangpondo sa budget na napakalaki? Marami pa kaming gustong malaman dahil hindi naman nakadetalyang mabuti sa budget nila.
Lahat yan ay marahil mas madaling intindihan ngayon kung noong July 2010 pa lang ay pinaunlakan na ng mga department heads ang aming invitation for a series of dialogue. Noon pa man ay gusto na naming umpisahan na malaman ang sitwasyon per department, kung anong situation, kung anong income, ano ang budget.
But because of the ‘gag’ order issued by the mayor, no department head showed up despite our repeated invitations. Dahil dito, we had no access to information about the city’s operations. Hindi namin alam kung paano kami makatulong.
Still just to show good faith on our part, nakapagpasa ang sanggunian ng mahigit na 50 ordinances at resolusyon kahit hindi kami natulungan ng mga department heads. Iyan ba ang trabahong tamad na gaya ng tawag ng mayor sa amin?
Noong panahon ni Mayor Al Fernandez, madali naming inaprobahan ang budget because he discussed with us what appropriations he needed for which projects and activities, and the department heads were working with us. That’s where the difference lies, and it has nothing to do with any petty politics from our end. Trabaho lang!
At kung utusan na ni mayor ang mga department heads na makipagtulungan, sana sabihin nila ang totoo para alam namin kung paano kami makatulong.
Sa decision ni Councilor Lim na hindi na siya tatanggap ng suweldo hangga’t wala pang city budget, that is his personal decision. But all the councilors will receive their salaries dahil sila ay nagtratarabaho.
Ang ganda po ng ating slogan – Our City, Our Shared Responsibility. Sayang at hindi ito ang nagyayari sa Dagupan. Sana makita nating lahat sa mga susunod na araw ang pagpapatunay na ‘yan nga ang vision ng Lim administration, that we have a shared responsibility based on mutual trust and respect honesty and transparency.
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