By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA
With the absence of a qualified majority that needed the presence of all the
members of the lawmaking body of Dagupan City vis-à-vis the requirement of votation in the passing of an appropriation ordinance quoted in a final decision by the Supreme Court, Dagupan Mayor Belen T. Fernandez will be in a legal bind in case she spends the P1.3 billion 2023 budget.
The jurisprudence is the Municipality of Corella, Represented by Mayor Jose Nicanor D. Tocmo, Petitioner, Vs. Philkonstrak Development Corporation and Vito Rapal, Respondents (G.R. No. 218663. February 28, 2022).
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| A jovial Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (3rd from right) and her five allies' legislators in the lawmaking body of Dagupan City partaking their food. Internet grabbed from the Mayor's Facebook Page. |
Mayor Fernandez will be
facing the Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act in case she started to spend the mammoth amount railroaded by her allies in the
legislative body.
Excerpts of the Supreme Court ruling:
“…Moreover, it might interest
you to know that DILG Central Office had the occasion to opine, under DILG
Opinion No. 103 S 2001 dated December 18, 2001, that the Local
Government Code of 1991 does not expressly prescribe for a specific voting
requirement for the passage of an appropriation ordinance. Hence, the general
rule on the passage of an ordinance should be made to apply. The
pertinent provision on the matter is Article 107 (g) of the Rules and
Regulations Implementing R.A. 7160 x x x.61 (Emphasis supplied)”
“…However, the Court finds the
construction of the DILG clearly erroneous.
The term
"appropriation," as defined under Section 306, Title V of the Local
Government Code "refers to an authorization made by ordinance,
directing the payment of goods and services from local government
funds under specified conditions or for specific purposes."
Juxtaposing this definition
with the exception in Article 107(g) of the IRR of the Local Government Code,
that "any ordinance x x x authorizing or directing
the payment of money x x x, shall require the affirmative vote of a
majority of all the sanggunian members,"
it is express and clear that an "appropriation ordinance" is one such
ordinance contemplated in the exception.
The definition of the term
"appropriation" in the Local Government Code is clear: [i]t is an
authorization made by an ordinance that directs the payment of money. The
exception to the general rule of the prescribed voting requirement in the IRR
of the Local Government Code is clear: an ordinance that directs or authorizes
the payment of money needs a quorum
of all the sanggunian members,
not only of those sanggunian members
present.
The Court, thus, holds that the
DILG Opinion is erroneous, and the CIAC and CA wrongfully applied the same to
their Decisions”.
This after her five councilors allies duped the four of the seven
majority dads to pass the supplemental budgets of Barangays Salisay and Tebeng by promising their counterpart to adjourn the session thereafter. But they exploied the gullibility of the four
lawmakers (the three of their companions were abroad) by ramming in the
session and approving the controversial more than a billion pesos’ budget. It
was not approved since January this year because Mayor Fernandez would not divulge to the majority the
names of the job orders employees that contradicted to the mandate the Local
Government Code.
The Majority suspected that the Chief Executive of the coastal city was hiding something from them.
The mandate of the Code says: The City Mayor...provide such information and data needed or requested by said sanggunian in the performance of its legislative functions Section 455 paragraph IV).
***
We the political spectators in Pangasinan wait for the temporary
restraining order and the preliminary injunction to be filed in the Regional
Trial Court of Dagupan City by the majority of dads lead by Councilors Dada
Reyna and Red Erfe-Mejia.
Let’s watch how the court deal with this brouhaha in the acrimonious
bangus city.
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