BSL vetoes parts of 2012 annual budget
“WITHOUT BASIS IN LAW …”
THE executive and legislative branches of Dagupan are on a collision anew after Mayor Benjamin Lim vetoed in part the ordinance passed by the Sanggunian Panlungsod (SP) authorizing the city’s P581 million annual budget for 2012.
In his strongly worded veto message to the SP dated March 22, 2012, a copy of which was obtained by THE PUNCH, Lim did not agree to a number of the provisions of the ordinance though he commended the SP led by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez for its passage.
The first objection was on Section V of Ordinance No. 1975-2012 which states: “The details and breakdown of expenditures of the 5% Budgetary Reserve (calamity fund) is not authorized due to the absence of a Calamity Plan ( x x x) contrary to Sec. 12, (c. <7> of R.A. 10121”.
Lim noted that Section V cites the absence of a Calamity Plan as contained in the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) as reason for not authorizing the details and breakdown of expenditures of the 5% calamity fund, but he countered that the AIP was received by the SP on September of 2011.
The mayor also vetoed Section VI, which he said was “without basis in fact and in law”, insisting that the SP received a copy of the AIP.
The SP maintained that City Administrator Vlad Mata gave the impression that the AIP was submitted when in fact the file he submitted did not contain the details needed for the budget disbursement, Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez said last week.
Section VI states that the details and breakdown of expenditures of the 20% Development Fund is not authorized due to the absence of the Comprehensive Development Plan and the Local Development Plan contrary to DILG-NEDA-DBM-DOF Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1,S-2007 dated March 8, 2007.
But the mayor contends that Section VII, which cites the case of Hon. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, et al, vs. Hon. Gwendolyn F. Garcia, et al, “is misplaced or has no application to the present budget” as the province of Cebu, under Garcia, operating under a re-enacted budget and not an approved annual budget, entered into various contracts without prior authority from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan through a supplemental budget.
“Allowing or approving Sections V, VI and VII of City Ordinance No. 1975-2012 runs counter to the avowed legislative intent in its title which authorizes the proposed and submitted budget prepared by the executive and runs afoul with accepted principle of statutory construction,” Lim said.
Lim maintained that the intent of the questionable sections of the ordinance “is patently to emasculate the prerogatives of the executive department in the delivery of the much-needed basic services to our people.”
Explaining this, he cited a ruling of the Supreme Court that “in cases, for instance, where the local government unit operates under an annual as opposed to a re-enacted budget, it should be acknowledged that the appropriation passed by the sanggunian may validly serve as the authorization required under Section 22 of Republicv Act 7160.
He said that after all, an appropriation is an authorization made by ordinance, directing the payment of goods and services from local government funds under specified conditions or for specific purposes.
The appropriation covers the expenditures which are to be made by the local government unit, such as the current operating expenditures and capital outlays.
The approval for the ordinance containing the budget was moved by Councilor Jeslito Seen, chair of the committee on finance, and jointly seconded by Councilors Ma. Librada Fe Reyna, Maybelyn Rose Fernandez, Karlos Liberato Reyna, Marc Brian Lim, Redford Christian Erfe-Mejia, Alipiop Serafin Fernandez, Luis Samson Jr., Alvin Coquia, Guillermo Vallejos and John Chester Gonzales.
Nine votes from the SP can override the mayor’s veto.
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