By Leonardo Micua

 

FOR the nth time, the members of the majority bloc in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan again indicated they are in no mood to approve a resolution that could lead to the establishment of the P150 million Maternal and Child Care Hospital (Mother and Child Hospital).

So, what else is new?  Nothing.

Recall that the seven councilors who are rabid oppositionists to the administration of Mayor Belen Fernandez, already arrived at their verdict when they passed a “not favorable”  committee report in November 2023 over the resolution needed.

With that mindset, the seven in the majority was deliberate in going against the city’s public interests, an act unprecedented in the history of the city. They refused to grant the 170,000 Dagupeños access to a hospital that they can call their own.

In another futile exercise, Minority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez moved for the suspension of the rules during the Sanggunian session on September 10, to allow the inclusion of the long pending resolution relative to the MCH issue citing Mayor Belen’s another certificate of urgency for passage of the measure.

But this was easily overturned by six negative votes of the majority against only three affirmative votes of the minority.

Failing that, Konse Fernandez again moved that the resolution be calendared for second reading during the subsequent session of the legislative body on September 17, but the answer of the majority was still a resounding “no”.

With the P150 million allotted by the DOH in the General Appropriations Act in 2001 now on the verge of forfeiture, and they couldn‘t care less. It is their self-interests in politics that must prevail. This time Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia’s alibi is the necessity to have another Committee hearing to determine when the forfeiture of the P150 million bonanza is due.

They have shown they don’t recognize the sense of urgency in passing the measure despite the certification made by the City Executive, which is a violation of the Local Government Code.

Bottomline: The allies of Brian Lim will not ever allow Belen to use the funding that was received by the city under the watch of their master.

From the looks of it, they are setting the stage for Brian to have a return bout with Belen, or for Celia to do it. Recall that Brian was roundly beaten by Belen in their return bout in 2022 despite the backing of his master in Malacanang.

A contentious issue raised by the majority bloc is they refuse to see the hospital constructed in a land owned by DOH earlier donated by the brother of Mayor Belen even knowing that the DOH has no other alternative since the city does not own a piece of land for it and there’s no other prospective donor, not even one from the majority.
They even suggested that it be located at the Juan Guadiz Elementary School believing they can get the nod of then DepEd Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte. Well, she no longer heads DepEd. So, the JG School as an option is out of the picture.

Then they made an outlandish proposal that the MCCC be located at the city property now being occupied by the CSI Market Square being leased on a long term by the family of Mayor Belen.

They knew that this is next to impossible but still they proposed it, perhaps believing that they could point to Belen as the obstacle, not them. What all these point to is they really don’t like the MCCC to rise under the watch of Belen.

The Lim family was challenged to donate part of their property as an alternative site to the MCCC,  but they flatly rejected it.

The people of Dagupan now know who to blame if the P150 million bonanza from DOH will finally be forfeited.

We will not be surprised if their continuing obstructionism to the good programs and projects of Mayor Belen will spell their doom in the 2025 polls.

The election is now only a few months away and as many streamers have proclaimed, the people of Dagupan will not easily forget.

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