THE Dagupan Sangguniang Panlungsod will hold a marathon hearing this week to act on and approve the executive budget for 2022 submitted by the office of Mayor Brian Lim before the  year ends.

However, Majority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez  warned that if the mayor’s office fails to submit complete documents to justify its proposed budget, the city government will have to  operate under a re-enacted budget of 2021.

Fernandez sought for the marathon  hearing because as of last Wednesday, the office of the city mayor still has not submitted the documents needed to justify the passage of next year’s annual budget.

But City Budget Officer Jessa Rayupa told the SP the Finance committee of the city government (composed of the city treasurer, city accountant, city budget officer and city administrator) that all pertinent documents have already been submitted as early as October, beating the deadline for the submission of the proposed executive budget to the SP.

Rayupa said among those submitted were the Local Youth Development Program and the Capacity Development Plan, except for Devolution Transition Plan relative to the Mandanas ruling allocating LGUs more share from the internal revenue collections, which was not made mandatory by the DBM.

But Councilor Fernandez rebuffed Rayupa and pointed out that the Indicative Procurement Plan (IPP) is not included among the integral plans submitted by the finance committee to the SP.

Rayupa, a lawyer, said the IPP, which should come from the Bids and Awards committee, is not material for the passage of the new city annual budget to which  Fernandez pointed to the operative word “shall” in the Department of Budget circular mandating local government to submit IPP as one of the requirements for the passage of the annual budget, make the submission of IPP mandatory.

Finally, Rayupa said the Bids and Awards Committee will submit the required document this week.

Councilor Luis Samson Jr. also asked whether the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (DRRMP) submitted by the executive department last year was already reviewed by the Department of  National Defense as required by the DBM, because he recalled that the SP agreed to pass last year’s annual city budget with the promise of the executive that the reviewed DDRMP will follow, but that document never reached the city council.

Councilor Fernandez said that to ensure passage of the city annual budget before the year ends, all the needed documents should be in place as he asked all concerned departments heads to attend the marathon hearing of the SP. (Leonardo Micua)

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