A sense of urgency at the new SP

By July 13, 2025Random Thoughts

By Leonardo Micua

 

THERE’S a whale of a difference between the present and the past Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan City. Firstly, there is no more dividing line that separates the majority and minority councilors, a first in the city, with an 11-1 composition.

In contrast, the past SP was composed of seven majority councilors and five minority councilors, clashing at every turn. We all know that in a democracy, the majority rules.

With Vice Mayor Bryan Kua presiding and 11 of 12 council members allied with Mayor Belen Fernandez, the SP can legislate any important matter without fear of being unduly contradicted.

Take for instance, the ordinance adopting Supplemental Budget No. 001-2025 amounting to P250.6 million – marked urgent by the mayor through a letter – passed by the new SP in record time of just one hour, on motion of Councilor Jeslito Seen, without anyone objecting.

In the past Sanggunian, a letter of urgency from the city executive was never given any respect.

For instance, when informed of a letter of certificate of urgency from Mayor Belen, the usual course of action of the past finance committee chair was to set committee hearings. Everyone in Dagupan knows that these committee hearings drag on for months and even years, and have never resulted in the enactment of any ordinance.

Tailored to limit the projects of Belen so that she would not outperform her slow-footed predecessor, the obstructionism employed by the past ruling majority was waged without regard to the fact that those hurt the most are the ordinary people who were deprived of the needed services from their city government.

Despite almost weekly committee hearings, done mostly behind closed doors with no media eavesdropping, not even one supplemental budget was passed.

The exception to this was the watered-down version of a supplemental budget that allocated a measly P7 million plus to cover the salary incentives of city government workers as provided for in a national law signed by President Marcos.

Note that the monetary benefit was given to the employees only sometime in May 2024, when this was supposed to have been received by them in December the year before.

Those obstructionist days are over.

With Councilor Dada Reyna as the lone survivor of the boisterous Majority 7, her lone voice would hardly matter even if she makes it louder.

In his speech during the inaugural session of the Sanggunian on July 2, Councilor Michael Fernandez, who was already groomed to be the floor leader, having topped the May 12 election, assured that no resolution or ordinance would be unnecessarily delayed.

He has also committed that the present Sanggunian will never disregard the Local Government Code and other pertinent laws, which led to the suspension of three councilors.

That is why, when he learned from City Secretary Ryan Ravanzo that a letter of urgency was appended to the proposed ordinance on the P250.6-million supplemental budget, Councilor Iron Mike acted with dispatch by placing the ordinance on top of the day’s agenda.

Noting the mayor’s certification of urgency, the Sanggunian lost no time in calling the presence of members of the Local Finance Committee, headed by Luz de Guzman, the mayor’s chief of staff, to defend the supplemental budget.

When Ms. de Guzman and City Accountant Rosario Catugas succeeded in outlining the proposed supplemental budget line by line and item by item, the Sanggunian passed the measure without any delay.

Watching the session online from her office, Mayor Fernandez was the first person to commend the SP for speedily passing the requested supplemental budget.

Kudos too to Councilors Jose Netu Tamayo, Karlos Reyna, Marcelino Fernandez and Luis Samson Jr. for lending their wisdom that led to the early passage of the measure, and to Councilor Dada Reyna for supporting the proposal.

Of course, Councilors Marvin Fabia, Christel Hillary Paras, Danielle Francine Canto Jaja Cayabyab and Bradley Benavides contributed too in subjecting the proposed supplemental budget to meticulous examination at the committee level.

In a press conference, Kua said the Sanggunian is no rubber-stamp of Mayor Belen as shown in the inaugural session of the body when Councilor Michael and Councilor Karlos figured in a heated debate over the rule of presiding pro tempore, which was doused when Konsi Joey intervened and placed their discussion on the table, meaning postpone it to a later date.

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