By Leonardo Micua

 

AS clear as day, Dagupan’s annual city budget and its integral plans as well as the Annual Investment Plan, all for Calendar Year 2023, will not be passed before the March 31, 2023  deadline. The seven-man majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod appears to be in no mood to rush its closed-door committee hearings, no matter what happens to the city.

However, it’s interesting to note that when DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos came to Binmaley last January 30 to grace its town fiesta on the invitation of his cousin, Mayor Pedro Abalos Merrera III, he underscored in his speech the need for effective local governance and offered the full support of the DILG to help LGUs achieve their goals and move forward for the benefit of their people.

One of those in the audience was Mayor Belen Fernandez of Dagupan, whose city is now a basket case for the whole nation because it is the only local government unit in the country today without an approved annual budget, crawling like a pauper without funds to improve the lot of its constituents.

We saw a photo of Mayor Belen having a conversation with Secretary Abalos after his speech at the Binmaley Sports and Civic Center and I can only guess what could have been their talk about but it was the perfect opportunity for her to raise the case of the city to the good DILG secretary – that after seven months into her administration, she cannot move forward because the seven-man majority in the Sanggunian is holding the proposed P1.3 billion annual budget hostage to cripple her administration.

It’s no secret that the majority bloc’s ply is to avenge the defeat former mayor and their chieftain, Brian Lim, who might still be working in the sidelines to give his lady conqueror, hell.

Secretary Abalos is the right person to help Dagupan after the seven-man SP majority ignored the exhortation earlier of DILG Provincial Director Virgilio Sison to the chamber,  to speed up the passage of the annual budget after its failure to pass it on or before December 31, 2022.

Sison’s exhortation merely fell on deaf ears as the seven-man majority continues to invoke its house rules and number, opting to hold closed door committee hearings inside a small ante-room, so the public would have no way of knowing more about their motives. The group is clearly blatantly violating the local government code that public hearings, not committee hearings, must do the process.

By the way, in his speech before provincial, city and municipal officials, including from the DILG, PNP, BJMP and Bureau of Fire Protection, Secretary Abalos underscored the fact that  under the Mandanas ruling of the Supreme Court, local government units are allocated bigger share of the pie from all taxes collected by the national  government.

This was the precise reason why as early as last year, all local government units were required to submit a devolution transition plan, including the indicative procurement plan, which the past Dagupan City administration under then Mayor Lim tried to ignore.

The city residents are beginning to tire of their plots. Even athletes of Dagupan are set  to troop to the Sangguniang Panlungsod to vent their anger at the SP majority for blocking the proposed budget.

The DepEd Dagupan’s scheduled division meet to begin on February 6 may be cancelled because there is no fund to bankroll training, sports gears and yes, uniform of athletes, thanks to the majority bloc.

It would be an embarrassment to the whole city if the athletes of Dagupan cannot go to the Region 1 Athletic Association Meet in April to defend their back-to-back championship, all because the city has no budget.

DepEd Dagupan wanted to source out its expenses from part of the Special Education Fund of P46 million but cannot do it as well without this year’s AIP being passed.

Then, since personnel of various government agencies devolved to Dagupan as a result of the Mandanas ruling, are now part of the working force of the city, they must be crying out loud for agreeing to be devolved, finding themselves today caught in a web of political maelstrom all because of the majority bloc’s ill motives to see Belen fail.

So, the only recourse for Belen was to raise the matter to DILG Secretary Abalos. Let’s hope the DILG will throw the books on the seven-man majority soon and make it clear that they cannot keep on blocking the budget at the expense of Dagupeños.

Abangan!

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