THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it is not the proper agency to render legal opinion as requested by Mayor Belen Fernandez on whether the majority in the  Sangguniang Panlungsod violated the law when it said “it will not honor Section 323 of the Local Government Code.”

This was the reply of DBM Regional Director Ria Bansigan in her August 10, 2023 letter and received by the SP on August 16, 2023 addressed to Mayor Fernandez, thru City Legal Officer Aurora Valle in response to the latter’s letter dated July 19, 2023, to wit: “xxx may we seek your legal opinion on the matter  regarding the action of the majority councilors that it will not honor anymore Section 323 of the Local Government Code”.

Bansigan said the authority of the DBM only extends to the review of AOS (Appropriation Ordinances) of provinces, highly-urbanized cities, independent component cities and municipalities x x x pursuant to Section 326 of the xxx LGC (Local Government Code).

Section 323: Failure to Enact the Annual Appropriations states: “In case the sanggunian concerned fails to pass the ordinance authorizing the annual appropriations at the beginning of  the ensuing fiscal year, it shall continue to hold sessions, without additional remuneration for its members, until an ordinance is approved, and no other business may be taken up during such sessions.”

The SP’s majority passed an appropriations ordinance on March 28, 2023 appropriating P864.91 million annual budget of Dagupan for 2023 which DBM declared as “inoperative in its entirety” on July 5, 2023.  A P1.3 billion executive budget was proposed by Mayor Fernandez.

Bansigan pointed out merely that when the Appropriation Ordinance is declared inoperative in its entirety, “the Appropriation Ordinance loses force and effect” and the LGU concerned shall operate under a reenacted budget effective immediately until such time that the new ordinance authorizing the annual appropriations is enacted and approved.

Mayor Fernandez sought the endorsement of the Local Development Council (LDC) for the resubmission of the annual executive budget of P1.3 billion to the SP, but the majority ignored it and refused to hold second reading on the resubmitted budget.

Councilor and minority floor leader Michael Fernandez raised the majority’s violation of Section 323 of the LGC when the majority councilors proceeded to discuss other matters without acting on the Appropriations Ordinance for 2023.

Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia countered that the SP can no longer be bound to Section 323 since it already passed an appropriations ordinance on March 28, 2023, although the same was declared inoperative in its entirety, adding that Dagupan is already operating with a reenacted annual budget of 2022.

In her letter to Mayor Fernandez, Bansigan further clarified that when an Appropriation Ordinance is declared inoperative in its entirety, it means the local treasurer shall not make further disbursements of funds from any of the items of appropriation declared inoperative, disallowed or reduced (Section 327, R.A. 7160). (Leonardo Micua)

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