What Now Dagupan After Mayor Belen Vetoed the 2023 Budget?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez vetoed Wednesday’s night the watered down almost P865 million budget of the second class city after the opposition majority lawmakers in the Sanggunian Panlungsod (SP) torn off a significant part her P1.3 billion 2023 proposed budget.

The Chief Executive vetoed the appropriation ordinance on the eight working day of the ten-day prescriptive period upon her receipt otherwise it becomes a law, according to the Local Government Code.

A GRIM FACED Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (left, photo) reads her communication- letter to the members of the Sanggunian Panlungsod (lawmaking body) why she vetoed the diminished almost P865 million 2023 appropriation ordinance they passed. The water downed amount came from the P1.3 billion proposed budget by the office of the mayor she sent to the august body in November last year. It was only approved by the opposition lawmaker last March 28, 2023. Photos at the right top and below are those of the majority opposition legislatures of the city.

She returned the appropriation ordinance to the SP by explaining to the lawmakers why she vetoed it. I don’t know if she –through the advice of her lawyer - cited the doctrine of ultra vires (prejudicial to the public welfare) provided in the Code as part of her communication.

The veto could no longer be overturned by the opposition legislatures – that composed seven out of the twelve councilors – because they need two-third or eight of the votes of the members of the SP as required by law.

With that reality, the local government unit (LGU) of the coastal city operates in the preceding year (2022) budget of another diminished P1.380 billion.

So with the brouhahas that hogged the headlines since last year, how will the Bangus City fares with a reenacted budget?

Its ADVANTAGES, as provided by Section 323 of the Local Government Code (LGC) are the following:

·         the ordinance authorizing the appropriations of the preceding year shall be deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect until the ordinance authorizing the proposed appropriations is passed by the SP.

·         annual appropriations for salaries and wages of existing positions, statutory and contractual obligations, and essential operating expenses authorized in the ANNUAL AND SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGETS (emphasis mine) for the preceding year shall be deemed reenacted and disbursement of funds shall be in accordance therewith. Example: The advantage of the reenacted budget to the vetoed almost P865 million appropriation ordinance is the present 769 job order employees (JOEs), 47 day care workers, 31 barangay librarians, 31 barangay nutrition scholars, 65 barangay service point officers, 630 barangay tanod (night guards) and 310 barangay health workers that the Mayor emphatically defended and joined in their acrimonious rally versus the hated Opposition Councilors – as seen on the social media - last April 10 in the public plaza. They could now continue to work and get paid. Those JOEs and others were beneficiaries on the ascension to the mayoralty of Fernandez in May 9, 2022 election where majority of the councilors in the sanggunian panlungsod were her allies. Some of them there waited for their last term to end at noon of May 31 of the same year. Between May 9 to May 31, 2022 these allies frantically approved the P1.380 budget that they denied to the beleaguered administration of Mayor Brian Lim. After approving the budget, expeditious approval of the supplemental budget or budgets followed as they race to complete it or them before May 31.

Why? The new opposition majority dubbed as Magic -7 (a play of words probably from the Magic Group of Companies (malls) of Lim by critics) were waiting at the sideline for their time to make life harder and miserable to the new mayor.

·         Statutory and contractual obligation as mentioned above cover continuing infrastructure development project of the LGU covered by a validly executed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and authorized in the annual or supplemental budget last year is among those deemed reenacted.

The DISADVANTAGES of the reenacted budget:

·         In the implementation of such reenacted ordinance, the local treasurer shall exclude from the estimates of income last year those realized from nonrecurring sources like national aids, proceeds from loans, sale of assets, prior year adjustments and other analogous sources of income.

·         No ordinance authorizing supplemental appropriations shall be passed in place of the annual appropriations.

·         There will be no creation of positions, no filling of positions, no new programs, projects and no activities for the Fernandez Administration.

·         The increase in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) allocation for this year 2023 cannot be utilized since the same is not covered by an appropriation ordinance.

·         Non-recurring activities (national aids, proceeds from loans, sale of assets, prior year adjustments and others) cannot be undertaken NO MATTER HOW VITAL THEY MAY BE (emphasis mine).

·         The twenty-percent (20%) Development or Infrastructure Fund – for government buildings, roads, others -  is not included. If half of the P1.380 is P690 million and was from the internal revenue allotment (they called it now as national tax allotment (NTA)) where the 20% of the Development Fund is computed, then the city loses P138 million this year for infras.

What say you my dear readers (to quote the quip of my favorite book author and Fox TV host Bill O'Reilly), would the 2022 reenacted budget bode well for the people of Dagupan City this year?

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.