Dagupan Diminished Budget is Not for 3rd Class Town

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

My namesake and father Lt. Marcelo Ortigoza, Sr. attended the Araw Ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) today in a Cotabato town. My father is 94 years old and the only 44 living soldiers (out of the 7, 420) who fought the Chinese and North Koreans in the early 1950s Korean War.

In case the brewing tensions between China and Taiwan break out and the Chinese invade Luzon and the rest of the country because of the three U.S bases through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in Naval Base Camilo Osias and Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela, I would be seeing myself, my two grown up sons and you - yes you, son of a gun, the able bodied male specie reading this column- bear arms and fight to the death the Commie Chinese just like what the Ukrainian citizens have been doing with the Russian invaders. And of course, just like what the 7, 420 intrepid and gallant Pinoy soldiers had done in the 1950s.

Dagupan City. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com

Some media men in Dagupan City have kept repeating on their outlets that the watered down budget of Mayor Belen T. Fernandez from P1.3 billion to almost P865 million significantly reduced it to a THIRD CLASS TOWN.

I’ve honed my media experiences writing straight news on the annual budget of various local government units from first class to fourth class towns in the gargantuan province of Pangasinan since time immemorial.

For example, Mangaldan Mayor Bonafe D. Parayno and Sta. Barbara Mayor Lito Zaplan told me that their present budget this year is P430 million, P326 million, respectively. Mangaldan and Sta. Barbara like Calasiao (P380 million) and Binmaley (P350 million) are first class towns based on the classification of the Department of Finance (DoF).

Urbiztondo Mayor Modeng Operania disclosed to me his third class town has a budget this year of P216 million. Last year Aguilar Mayor Roldan Sagles told me his third class municipality had a budget of P232, 276, 019,00 last year.

 Deliberation, debate and legislation for the budget of a town and a city for the ensuing year by the Sanggunian (lawmaking body) start in October 16 according to the Local Government Code of the Philippines). The Code gives the lawmaking body up to March 31 the following year as deadline otherwise the Mayor is prejudiced to have a reenacted budget of the preceding year where the 20% development fund or infrastructure fund is omitted as mandated by law.

 To many mayors in the country, the infrastructure funds that run to tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos are their illegal source of doughs through the so-called S.O.P – the euphemism of “cut” that runs up to 10% - 20% per project from their favored contractor. They used these monies to fund their reelection, stipends for their mistresses, expenses of their family and their purchase of their new vehicles and houses.

With the average budget of P224 million by the two third class towns Urbiztondo and Aguilar, how come the Dagupan City budget of P865 million eroded to a third class town?

Baka third class city kasi second class city lang ang Dagupan when it was declassified by the DOF from being first class in the late 2000s or early 2010s.

An example of a third class city in the country was San Carlos City, Pangasinan in year 2020. It had an annual budget of ₱ 941.4 million. A fourth class city in year 2020 was Alaminos City, Pangasinan. It had an annual budget of P703.1 million.

Dagupan City as third class town?

Where did these media friends get their facts? It seems they f*cked up bigtime with their reportage, hahaha!

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.