By Farah G. Decano

 

THE Dagupan City budget was finally enacted last Tuesday but not without severe slashes from the opposition councilors who comprise the majority.  Their main contentions are errors and lack of transparency.

One error pointed out by the so-called Magic 7 is the wrong computation of the Local Development Fund.  According to RA 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code, the development fund must be twenty percent of the proposed Annual Internal Revenue Allotment.  The Local Finance Committee members who recommended the executive budget to Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, must have overlooked the accuracy of their calculations.  When it comes to budgeting, the Mayor’s top adviser is the very experienced former Budget Officer, Luz de Guzman.  As executive assistant of the City Mayor on finances, how could she have missed this very glaring error?

The Local Finance Committee consisting of the Budget Officer, the City Treasurer, and the City Planning and Development Officer, is in charge of ensuring that all documents pertaining to budget submitted to the executive are precise and in order.  To compute twenty percent of a definite amount need not require complex algebraic formulas. Obviously, the wrong calculation of 20 percent may be an innocuous mistake but a very reckless one.

Perhaps, the tension between the executive and the legislative has taken its toll on the department heads and the executive assistants.  They have become so worried and entangled with intricate issues that they have forgotten the obvious ones, which are not necessarily less important.   Councilor Alfie Fernandez’ recent statement over the radio is a testament as to how the senior officers feel about the budgeting process – “Ninenerbyos,” he said.

Councilor Alfie, however, assuaged the worried among the listeners of the radio program, by disclosing that the proposed Local Development Fund will be reconsidered by the Sanggunian as soon as the correction is made by the executive and resubmitted for approval.

It seems that the remedy suggested is not complicated after all.

If the error of the executive is so obvious and the remedy that the Sanggunian had in mind was simple, then the Committee on Appropriations could have easily spotted the booboo and immediately directed the executive to make the necessary rectifications to the Local Development Plan and its funds as early as November of last year.  Had there been no belated consideration of the budget, then the correction of this executive blunder could have been instant.

The consequences of lapses and the lack of malasakit are costly, very prejudicial, and worse, irreversible.   If we truly care for the city and its people, we must not allow its managers to commit gaffes.

Another reason for the budget cuts is the lack of transparency of the executive.  The opposition alleged that the Mayor failed to submit the names of consultants and emergency workers, hence the deletion of some program funds.

If these documents were truly relevant for the opposition, then the Sanggunian could have requested from the Commission on Audit for these papers.  Mere failure of the Mayor to submit the required list should not have stopped the Sanggunian from further investigating the matter.  Because the COA makes a year-end report on the expenditures of the executive, perhaps, the needed documents by the Sanggunian are with the said office.   The immediate deletion of the program funds seems precipitate.

With the Annual Budget down by more than 400 million, we now hear of the consequences:  development programs cannot yet be implemented, and some 700 casuals, who render basic services, are now without jobs.

Who wins in this publicity and credibility war between the executive and the legislative?  We shall only know in 2025.  At the moment, the Dagupenos are at the losing end.

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