Barangays eye loan to cover expenses
FOR STREET DANCING
IT is not unusual for local government units nowadays to run to government banks for loans to fund infrastructure projects but barangay kapitans of Dagupan are set to take the same route not for their infrastructure projects but for costumes and accompanying gears this time.
According to Liga ng mga Barangay President Guillermo Vallejos, barangays are considering taking out a loan to finance their preparations and other requirements for the Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing competition, one of the highlights of the annual Bangus Festival, after the city hall failed to include an allocation item for their participation in the festival in the recently approved budget.
The request for an allocation was instead made by Mayor Benjamin S. Lim as a supplemental budget just two weeks after the budget approval.
The request is for P7 million for the barangays participation in the festival.
The majority in the SP, however, have said they are not inclined to approve the supplemental budget because of the legal implications of the requested supplemental budget.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the SP, pointed out that the allocation should have been included in the budget from the very beginning and to approve the supplemental budget would violate specific provisions of the approved budget.
Vallejos, however, who was absent in all the council’s budget hearings and who never raised the need to allocate funds for the barangays, now blames the SP for the what he described as “absence of support for the barangays.”
“Because of the inaction of the SP, all punong barangays here may be forced to borrow money so that they can prepare and participate, in the Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing,” he said.
Vallejos, however, did not give an indication in the press release issued by the city hall if a bank has already assured them that a P7 million loan application for street dancing purposes will be approved.
Meanwhile, a barangay kapitan who requested anonymity told the PUNCH that if only Vallejos had done his work, the barangays would not find themselves in this difficult situation.
“He’s supposed to represent us in the budget hearings, where was he the whole time? ” he asked in the vernacular.
Vallejos, whom Fernandez chided for his failure to observe protocol and procedures and lack of cooperation with his fellow councilors, said he remains hopeful that the SP will change their decision.
But as things stand with the majority in the city council, Vallejos may already have to make that trip to the banks. (with report from CIO)
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