MBTF ADMINISTRATION VINDICATED

A Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Dagupan has denied the third case filed by the city’ opposition councilors against what they claimed to be the illegal passage of the 2023 budget by the five-member minority bloc on September 26, 2023, for lack of merit.

In a 13-page decision dated November 11, 2024, Dagupan RTC Branch 76 Presiding Judge Michael Paul Israel junked Special Civil Action No. 2023-0008-D or Declaratory Relief with Prayer for Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order filed by Councilors Maria Librada Fe Reyna, Maria Lourdes Fernandez, Alvin Coquia and Redford Christian Erfe-Mejia.

The respondents included Mayor Belen Fernandez; Vice Mayor Bryan Kua, presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP); Councilors Michael Fernandez, Jeslito Seen, Marcelino Fernandez, and Joshua Bon Bon Bugayong, former Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President; City Secretary Ryan Ravanzo; and the Dagupan City Legal Office.

Two previous cases against the budget approval were also denied by the court on January 12 and April 18 this year.

In the third case, Israel said in a foreword in his decision: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act”.

In their petition, the opposition councilors assailed the validity of Ordinance No. 2274-2023 that enacted the P1.3 billion annual city budget of Dagupan, claiming that the five councilors who voted for its approval did not have the required collective affirmative vote of all SP members.

They cited the Supreme Court decision in the Municipality of Corella versus Philkonstrak Development Corp., which ruled that any ordinance that authorizes or directs the payment of money or creates a liability, such as the subject appropriation ordinance, “requires the affirmative vote of all Sanggunian members, whether present or not”.

When Ordinance No. 2274-2023 was passed on September 26, 2023, three of the seven opposition councilors were vacationing abroad while the other four participated in the session online.

In its decision, the RTC stated: “…it must be noted that the petitioners chose not to participate in the deliberation of the passing of the ordinance by walking out from the session hall instead of being heard for voting purposes.”

The court also quoted the Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM) No. DC-2024-004 dated April 8, 2024 issued by the Commission on Audit (COA): “Noncompliance to Section 319 of the Local Government Code of 1991 on the enactment of the annual budget within the prescribed period hindered the Local Chief Executive  to implement PPA’s under the 20% Development Fund and procure the much-needed Capital Outlays for the efficient and effective delivery of basic services for the constituents.”

COA further recommended that the city’s executive and legislative officials coordinate and cooperate to ensure the timely passage of the annual budget and avoid a re-enacted budget. (Leonardo Micua)

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