WHO got the P3.1 million fund intended for the cleaning of drainage canals in the barangays? The bigger question is – who spent it, and for what?

According to City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara the P3.1 million fund allotted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) for the barangays of Dagupan for cleaning drainage canals was already released in April.

In a letter to Officer-in-Charge City Secretary Rizalino Uson in line with the query of the SP as to where the allotted amount of P100,000 per barangay had gone, Alcantara said the full amount was released through Voucher No. 100-11-04-2058 and paid under Check No. 424590 dated April 19, 2011.

The check for the full P3.1 million amount was received by only one person, presumably Councilor Guillermo Vallejos, Liga ng mga Barangay president.

Vallejos, however, earlier claimed that he never received a check and neither have the barangay chairmen received theirs. He was not present during the SP’s session last week to make a clarification.

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, in a talk to mediamen last week where she showed a copy of Alcantara’s letter, said the SP will pursue its inquiry on the matter because under Ordinance 1964-11 in which the fund was allocated, the money was supposed to have been released individually to the barangay chairmen.

“We will inquire further from Councilor Vallejos about this matter. He might have erred in saying to us that they have not received the amount yet,” she said.

Questions on the fund came to light last month after the city again repeatedly suffered from flooding and stagnant water in drainage canals following typhoons and monsoon rains. Dengue cases went up at an alarming rate, the highest within Pangasinan.

Fernandez said the SP initiated the inquiry because it needs to know whether the fund was released and actually used for the purpose for which it was intended.

Under the ordinance, the fund is also subject to liquidation by each of the barangays, and to date no such report was filed by any of the barangay chairmen.

Suspicion was rife that the fund was used for the barangay chairmen’s overseas trip to Singapore last May arranged by the office of the city mayor.

This was flatly denied by City Administrator Vladimir Mata.

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