By Leonardo Micua

 

LAST week, the majority in the Sanggunian was again virtually caught lying through the skin of its teeth.

It claimed a “carried motion” that ordered the city secretary “to fix the order of the minutes of sessions”  in the written manifestation customarily being submitted by the majority before the start of the session.

What “carried motion” are you talking about?, the eagle-eyed Councilor Michael Fernandez, minority floor leader, sarcastically asked the majority bloc.

Cornered, not even one of the seven majority councilors had the gall to reply to Konsehal Michael’s query, as if it was only a trivial matter.

When asked by Fernandez if there was really a “carried motion”, City Secretary Ryan Ravanzo replied in the negative and sought to be enlightened by the majority.

Fernandez likened the “carried motion” to the bogus amendments of the SP’s Internal Rules of Procedures by the majority bloc sans any approved resolution.

Now, the SP majority councilors are being slowly exposed for their lies, which became more evident after DILG considered its IRP merely in the nature of by-laws just to guide legislative discussions and does not have the force of law.

As far as DILG is concerned, the IRP is not an all-powerful document, rejecting the wrong notion of the majority councilors of its vast power, believing that with that document, they could make Mayor Belen fall from the pedestal of power. Wrong!

What a gobbledygook.

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The seven majority councilors were conspicuously absent during the SOCA of Mayor Belen Fernandez at CSI Stadia.

 Only Councilors Michael Fernandez, Jeslito Seen, Dennis Canto, Marcelino Fernandez and Bradley Benavides were present.

 It was during the special session of the city council of the Manlenkor ya Kalangweran when Mayor Belen was asked to deliver her SOCA.

 I asked City Secretary Ravanzo if the manner of calling the mayor to deliver her SOCA and if the youth officials not clothed with the authority to do so can do it. He said that the Local Government Code is not particular about this matter as long as the copy of the mayor’s address is submitted to the Sanggunian.

 By the way, this  was not the first time that the MYK called MBTF to deliver her SOCA. Recall that she was also asked by MYK last year on the same venue and nobody questioned about its legality. 

 As a prelude to the mayor’s SOCA, snapshots of actual video footages  of the raucous that happened in the Sanggunian over the approval of the minutes of the session when the 2023 annual budget was passed, where some majority councilors were caught in furious mood uttering unsavory words against the presiding officer, were shown to the public. 

 FYI, that incident led to court suits now pending before the court in Dagupan.

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It looks like the Tri-City Ferry System linking Dagupan City with the cities of Alaminos and San Fernando will proceed without the imprimatur of the Dagupan Sanggunian.

The approval of this noble project by NEDA indicated that it is the national government, possibly the Department of Transportation, with the help of DILG, that will bankroll the project in the 2025 GAA.

Imagine, the Sanggunians of Alaminos and San Fernando cities already passed and approved the requested resolution for the project way back in 2022.

The Dagupan Sanggunian, invoking the provision in its internal rules, did conduct public hearings on the matter but did not finish it.

They did the same with the P150-million Mother and Child Hospital, the amount of which was reported to have come from Senator Bong Go, a political ally of former Mayor Brian Lim.

Only a simple resolution authorizing Mayor Fernandez to sign for in behalf of the city with the Department of Health is only what is needed for the project to push through but the majority denied the city.

So, Mayor Fernandez was right in her speech at the Dagupan City Plaza commemorating the 126th Philippine independence when she referred the seven opposition councilors as “kaaway ng bayan sa ating hanay” (translation: enemies of the people of Dagupan).

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