THE Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), in an unprecedented move, declared the P193,756,372. annual budget of a town, Bani, for calendar year 2021 as “inoperative in its entirety”.

This was contained in a resolution sponsored by SP Members Noel Bince, Donabel Fontelera and Margielo Humilde-Verzosa and co-sponsored by Shiela Perez-Galicia, Jerome Espino and Jinky Zaplan.

The resolution stated that the annual budget of Bani was submitted to the SP on January 14, 2021 and referred to the Local Finance Committee of the province.

The decision to remand the budget to the Bani government, on the recommendation  of the Committee on Laws and Ordinance chaired by Bince, was conveyed in SP’s letter dated February 3, 2021.

A committee hearing was scheduled on March 19, 2021 but the hearing did not materialize as the SP received a letter dated March 18, 2021 from Mayor Gwen Palafox-Yamamoto who requested for the rescheduling of said hearing as she was then undergoing mandatory quarantine for having been in close contact with a COVID-positive associate.”

Bince’s committee received a letter dated April 12, 2021 signed by Municipal Vice Mayor Benjamin Navarro II and Sangguniang Bayan Member John Paul Navarro, Noel
Jalandhar, Armando Rivera and Wilhelm Aquino requesting the committee to have a definite stand on the annual budget of Bani through a resolution, instead of acting on the remand letter of the committee chairman of the Local Financé Committee.

While no reasons were forwarded in the letter by Vice Mayor Navarro, it was evident in his social media post on May 3, 2021 that the group’s letter was protesting, almost zero budget for the Office of the Vice Mayor.

During its regular session on May 3, the SP again received a letter from Vice Mayor Navarro and four councilors of Bani, and asked for a copy of the SP resolution that declared the town’s annual budget of Bani as inoperative. (Leonardo Micua)

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