LAST TWO MINUTES TO ESCAPE ACCOUNTABILITY

STILL believing that as majority they can still make and unmake rules, the seven councilors, Redford Erfe-Mejia, Celia Lim, Librada Reyna-Macalanda, Irene Lim-Acosta, Alvin Coquia, Alfie Fernandez and Marilou Fernandez, forced the holding of a special session to pass an “amended” Annual Investment Plan (AIP) even after being informed that Mayor Belen Fernandez  already vetoed the AIP they passed in March 28.

The seven were adamant in passing a resolution approving a “new” AIP, restoring the P2.188 billion originally proposed by the city executive, and repealing the first amended AIP that was passed on March 28 by a vote of 7-5.

Initially Councilor Celia Lim urged her colleagues in the majority that the AIP be stricken out of the agenda in the special session since Mayor Fernandez already sent her veto on the said document at 4:56 p.m. on April 11, obviously not realizing that without an AIP, an annual budget cannot be disbursed.

The majority ignored her and proceeded to approve the new AIP without anyone entering a legal opinion whether their action was in conformity with the provisions of the Local Government Code or not.

Before Erfe-Mejia sponsored Draft Resolution No. 6253-2023 entitled “Approving the Annual Investment Program and its accompanying Integral Plans for CY 2023 in the amount of P2.188,754,166.54, he, as chairman of the committee on finance and appropriations, proceeded with his foreword, admitting his mistake (because “all humans make mistakes”) but made it clear he was not apologizing to thousands of people affected by his mistake when he scaled down the AIP and annual budget.

Effectively, Erfe-Mejia himself amended his own resolution by making the said measure repeal the first passed AIP, the one that was already vetoed by Mayor Fernandez.

Recall that the AIP passed by the SP on March 28 and vetoed by Mayor Fernandez, Erfe-Mejia sponsored an amendatory resolution scaled down the amount to just P1.169 billion.

Curiously, even the minority joined the majority in passing the new AIP.

Then Councilor Librada Reyna-Macalanda moved for the approval of the Draft Ordinance No. 0-823 she authored by and supported by all her colleagues in the majority, entitled “An ordinance rectifying specific items in the approved Annual Budget  for CY 2023,”  in anticipation of a scathing veto of the annual budget by Mayor Fernandez.

To give it a semblance of regular procedure, Erfe-Mejia scheduled a committee hearing for this measure the next day, inviting all members of the city’s finance committee as well as Minority Floor Leader Fernandez.

And when City Secretary Ryan Ravanzo cited the problem of sending notices in time to members of the city’s finance committee since it was already past 7:00 p.m., Erfe-Mejia volunteered to distribute the notices himself to all concerned.

Earlier, Councilor and Minority Floor Leader Councilor Michael Fernandez chided the majority for making it appear that there were inadvertent errors and omissions, including typographical errors in the approved AIP and the Annual Budget  but if there were errors, they are only to be blamed because these documents were prepared by the seven councilors arrogating unto themselves the duties of the City Secretary, as prescribed in their internal rules.

Ravanzo attested that the final drafts of the AIP and the Annual Budget were not prepared by him or his office but by the majority.

The “new” AIP did not correct “errors and mistakes”  but a total restoration of the content of the proposed AIP submitted by the city executive. It merely adopted the original measure en toto. (Leonardo Micua)

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