By Leonardo Micua

 

THE recent passage of Dagupan City’s long-delayed P1.3 billion annual budget by the heroic efforts of five minority councilors has brought relief and elation to all city government employees, including Mayor Belen Fernandez herself.

Councilors Michael Fernandez, Jeslito Seen, Dennis Canto, Marcelino Fernandez, and outgoing SK chairman Joshua Bugayong are credited for gifting Mayor Belen’s administration the much-needed annual budget.

Much to the surprise of many, the city finally has an annual budget to work with considering the prolonged delay in its approval. Mayor Belen was equally astonished by the ironic swift approval, given the seven majority councilors’ steadfast opposition to the sitting Mayor politically and perhaps, personally.

The turning point came when three majority councilors were absent in the session, having traveled to the US. And the remaining four attended the session via Zoom, giving the five minority councilors at the session hall the upper hand.

A resolution authorizing the city mayor to sign a usufruct agreement with the Bureau of Fire Protection over a piece of land on Perez Market site proved to be the catalyst for passing the annual budget.

Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia and his majority colleagues opposed the resolution, but Minority Leader Fernandez cited the October 6 deadline, emphasizing that the P25 million allocated for a three-storey BFP building in Dagupan could be lost if the agreement is not signed.

The minority’s victory in the vote paved the way for further discussions on the old draft ordinance No. 0-835 that sought to enact the P1.3 billion annual budget for Dagupan.

Despite the majority’s attempts to halt their advance, the minority’s determination prevailed with a 5-4 vote.

The motion seeking the inclusion of the annual budget to the agenda. To stop the steamrolling minority from passing the annual budget Erfe-Mejia moved for the adjournment of the session. Erfe-Mejia’s motion to adjourn the session, however, was overridden per the guidelines from the DILG and the Local Government Code.

DILG guidelines clearly state: “Adjournment is the time at which a session is properly adjourned if the presiding officer has officially declared its adjournment.

The rules further cite: “Even if the members have already adopted a motion to adjourn, if there are important announcements that necessitate the session to continue, the Chair may defer such adjournment to make the announcement”.

In short, the members have to wait for the final decision of the presiding officer to adjourn.

Erfe-Mejia should recall that this was the same opinion given by the DILG regional office when Erfe-Mejia then moved for adjournment while Mayor Fernandez was addressing the SP last February, obviously to insult the mayor, then he and his colleagues walked out of the Session Hall.

Councilor Fernandez emphasized that the passage of the annual budget was for the public good and couldn’t be halted by machinations.

However, after the passage of aforementioned measures, Erfe-Mejia stomped his way to the City Hall, believing he was put to shame by the minority councilors. He then, in a combative manner, confronted Konsehal Fernandez demanding that they ‘talk.’

I would say that his slamming the chair and banging the door at the conference room of the Office of the Mayor, he acted and talked like the bully on the street, not fit to be called an ‘honorable councilor.’

Mayor Belen posted three policemen to secure city hall from wayward folks, including Mr. Erfe-Mejia. #

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