Dads deny pork barrel as condition for budget OK
COUNCILOR Alfie Fernandez, assistant majority floor leader of the Dagupan Sangguinan Panlungsod (SP), has denied allegations that the councilors are asking for their share of a pork barrel in 2016 annual budget as a condition for their approval of the budget.
He said in an interview with The PUNCH that what he and four other councilors are demanding is the restoration of the P8 million budget that was cut by the office of the city mayor.
Mr. Fernandez said they proposed P52 million budget for the SP but only P44 million was provided and of this amount, P39 million was allotted for personnel services alone, leaving only P5 million for its one-year operation.
The SP has 45 employees and the number does not yet include the emergency workers assigned to the vice mayor and the 11 councilors.
“Look, who has the pork barrel? It is the mayor,” Councilor Fernandez said.
He pointed to the budget allotted for scholars of the city numbering more than 500, health care and financial aid for indigent residents which are all grants.
The councilor also cited the refusal of the city budget officer, Luz De Guzman, to allot funds in the Supplemental Budget No. 2 approved by the SP last December 14 for the P270,000 in overtime pay for services rendered by SP employees.
When asked why these employees still need P270,000 when P1.6 million was already paid for overtime, Mr. Fernandez said P1.6 million was spent for overtime pay in 2014 and another in 2015.
He also branded as malicious the insinuation of PUNCH editor Ermin Garcia Jr. in is Punchline column that the demanded overtime pay was not only for employees but also for the councilors.
Mr. Fernandez was kept to himself during the first regular session of the SP on Jan. 5, when Minority Leader Redford Erfe Mejia asked Councilor Jeslito Seen to inhibit himself in the deliberation of the budget being the brother-in-law of the mayor, after the latter delivered a privilege speech.
During the interpellation, Vice Mayor Brian Lim asked: “Was there any instance in Dagupan’s history that a reenacted budget was used throughout the year?” Councilor Jess Canto, the most senior among the councilors, answered, “None”
Meanwhile Councilors Marvin Fabia and Alvin Coquia, who have made known that they support positions taken by Messrs. Fernandez and Erfe-Mejia, declined to answer questions by newsmen.
Councilor Fernandez, recently backed out in the vice mayoralty race as running mate of Mayor Belen Fernandez. (Leonardo Micua)
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