The seven doing their worst
By Leonardo Micua
IF there’s one project that many of our present generation would love to see operating soon, that would be the proposed Tri-City Ferry System that will provide an alternative and faster means of transport for residents of the three coastal cities- Alaminos, Dagupan and San Fernando across the vast expanse of the Lingayen Gulf.
However, despite lengthy studies by consultants of the Regional Development Council and the development offices of the three cities, DILG and other government and quasi-government agencies to push for its launching this year, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan, controlled by the seven-man majority, dilly-delayed in passing a required resolution requesting the Department of Transportation to implement the project.
To this day, the Dagupan Sanggunian has not acted on the resolution while the sangguinans of Alaminos and San Fernando already passed the same.
A copy of the resolution pro forma was already furnished the Dagupan SP but, the majority still wants to hold a committee hearing on it. And, still no committee report has been submitted to the plenary for approval.
Unfortunately, Section 323 of the Local Government Code provides that the Sanggunian cannot discuss any other matter till after the annual budget for the year is passed so any further prodding at this stage is useless. So, the majority may use this as an excuse for the continued delay in passing the resolution required by the Tri-City Ferry System.
Recall that officials of the Public-Private Partnership Center (PPPC) wanted to join the December 19, 2023 session of the SP via the Zoom platform to seek the passage of the resolution but, lo and behold, there was no sign of the seven majority members inside the session hall. The session had to be adjourned.
Their absence dismayed not only officials of PPPC but also officials of Department of Health in Region 1 who also went to the SP to personally ask for the passage of a resolution authorizing Mayor Belen Fernandez to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with their office for the establishment of a P150 million Mother and Child Hospital. They came prepared with all the documents previously required by the SP committee on health.
The seven-man SP majority was still a no-show in their December 26 session, so the resolutions requested by PPPC and by DOH continued to hang in the balance.
That was not all. There was the urgency to also pass the Supplemental budget appropriating funds for the benefit of employees and for the purchase of vehicles and equipment badly needed by several offices, and an earlier supplemental budget seeking to fund various projects. So, Mayor Belen called for daily especial sessions of the SP, but not even one from the seven majority councilors showed up.
They finally showed up on December 28 special session only to say they cannot pass the supplemental budget requested by the employees and Mayor Fernandez because they would be violating the subjudice rule if they did. They said they filed cases before the local RTC and the Ombudsman against some city officials, contending that the 2023 annual city budget of P1.3 billion was illegally passed.
In another bid to press for the passage of the resolution that was needed to have the Tri-City Ferry Project up and running, Mayor Belen again called for another special session on December 30 but the seven-man majority ignored it.
I tend to agree with Jay Mendoza, manager of Sonshine Radio Dagupan, when he said he does not believe that the seven-man majority will even endorse the passage of the P1.33 billion of the 2024 annual budget.
Besides, this group, indeed, never favorably supported any program and project that could earn Mayor Belen “pogi” points except in one case.
Recall that they were in no mood initially to pass a resolution supporting the establishment of a Balay Silangan even after PDEA Regional Director Joel Plaza and other PDEA officials from Manila arrived to express their support. But they left empty-handed as the seven councilors were a no-show because they left for Manila to honor the invitation of the Office of the Vice President.
But the seven changed their minds and approved the resolution belatedly.
Jay believes it’s useless for department heads to appear and defend the budgets of their offices. He believes the seven-man majority will just go through the motion but will still not pass it.
They did it last year, and they can do it again this time. In fact, they will also likely pass another much-reduced budget just to embarrass Belen again.#
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