MAYOR Belen Fernandez is bracing for rough sailing in her administration’s first six months in office in the face of a measly P12 million left in Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) funds left by the previous administration.

“Baka hindi lang yan,” said Fernandez, noting that the P12 million left in the city coffer is based on a financial report as of March, the first quarter.

Interviewed four days after she began her three-year reign as mayor of Dagupan, Fernandez revealed that she is definitely scrapping the two projects initiated by former mayor Benjamin Lim: the controversial tsunami hill in Barangay Pugaro and the Maternal Child Care and Lying-in Clinic.

She said with newly assumed City Administrator Farah Decano, she has just formed the new Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) whose agenda in its first meeting is to get the records of all projects and cancel the remaining contracts for the tsunami hill.

The BAC, she said, will also communicate with City Auditor Virgilio Quinto to seek the refund of the more than P1 million paid to contractor Sison for the unimplemented site development plan of the proposed hospital.

TSUNAMI ALTERNATIVES

For the tsunami hill, P6 million was already spent for the initial phase and the Pugaro island residents insist it is a useless structure that serves no one.

However, Fernandez is considering to keep the circular structure that was already constructed and plant the area with forest trees to it into a park, which could be promoted as a tourist attraction in the island of Pugaro.

There is also a suggestion that seawater be pumped into the big circular structure and convert it into a common fishpond for the barangay residents.

Fernandez said the city auditor is now looking into all the illegal transactions at the city hall and it will be just be a matter of time before legal cases are filed against those persons involved, whether past or incumbent officials.

The mayor also reiterated that that city hall will be able to afford to hire emergency workers and consultants this year.

To maintain order in the streets notwithstanding the lack of funds, she agreed to the suggestion of former Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) chief Roberto Erfe Mejia to add more traffic enforcers by integrating the anti-littering team of the market division with the POSO.

Fernandez also sees no need to prune down the number of utility workers assigned with the Waste Management Division as they are doing vital service to the city.

She said generous donations to civic and non-government organizations, which the past administration undertook, will be discontinued under her administration.

SOCIAL WELFARE DEPT.

At the same time, Fernandez again took the City Social Welfare and Development Office to task for failing to liquidate the P3 million given to the city by the Department  Social Welfare and Development to fund the feeding program for day care center children.

Fernandez was fuming after she was informed that unless the previous release is liquidated, DSWD Director Nicomedes Castillo will not release the succeeding fund which will affect the activities of the day-care center pupils.

Part of the unliquidated fund was paid to the Asenso cooperative, owned by employees at city hall, which was contracted to procure, prepare and serve the food for the day care center pupils.

After ordering CSWDO Leila Natividad to submit her liquidation report, the mayor directed City Nutrition Officer Leah Aquino to assist in the feeding program by involving mothers of day care center pupils to prepare and serve the food to kids themselves instead of engaging the cooperative.

Aquino said this was the strategy adopted for the successful feeding program of Kalahi at Kabisig, Uniliver and Mead and Johnson in Dagupan City organized by then Vice Mayor Fernandez.

Fernandez said she already asked Uniliver and Mead and Johnson to provide milk in support of the city’s feeding program for day care children in the 31 barangays of Dagupan.

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