URBIZTONDO—Road-widening and street lighting projects undertaken by late Mayor Ernesto Balolong Jr. of this town have been stopped reportedly by the contractors.

Newly installed Mayor Martin Sison, in an interview, said all projects of the late mayor have been “frozen,” citing financial constraints as the main reason.

He said his administration will have to study whether the town should continue to pay the debts incurred by these projects.

“His (Balolong’s) creditors know what happened to him so they might as as well stop because it remains to be seen whether the present administration will pay them,” Sison said in Pilipino.

Sison said that he is coordinating with the Commission on Audit (COA) for the audit and inspection of the projects and accounts of the past administration to distinguish projects between his administration and that of the late mayor’s.

Sison also plans to reconstruct loans secured by the town since the local government only had P55,000 left for the year when he assumed office.

“We need to adjust and face the reality that the town may have overspent. Our IRA has been compromised because of construction materials,” he said.

The town has an existing P700,000 loan from the PNB (Philippine National Bank which the town stopped paying since October 2013 up to present.

There are also loans from suppliers which has to be checked if these were entered into under legal contracts, Sison said.

However, Sison promised that the “Urbiztondo LGU is fully operational under my leadership.”

“We are in the middle of a transition and slowly, we are providing solutions to the problems of our town,” he said.

The 25-year-old mayor has also already requested for a new chief of police since the current chief” is not capable of handling the security of their municipality.” –Johanne R. Macob

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