By Leonardo Micua
Upon the return of three Dagupan councilors from their 60-day preventive suspension, allowing their group to wrest back the majority, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution by a vote of 7-5 asking the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) regional office to act on the alleged irregular passage of appropriation ordinances covering a P557.2 million supplemental budget and the city’s P1.68-billion annual budget for 2025.
Opposition Councilor Librada Reyna, who sponsored the measure, said Appropriation Ordinance No. 2299 passed on November 5, 2024 that authorized Supplemental Budget No. 2-2024, and Appropriation Ordinance No. 0898 passed on November 12, 2024 authoring the 2025 annual budget of Dagupan, were erroneously and illegally adopted, citing lack of quorum and breach of house rules of the council. It was another move of the group to throw a monkey-wrench to derail the administration of Mayor Belen Fernandez in this election year of 2025.
In voting for the measure, Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia pointed out that their seven-member group never said that they are not in favor of the two appropriation ordinances but were merely questioning the procedure. Councilor Michael Fernandez and his colleagues Councilors Jeslito Seen, Dennis Canto, Marcelino Fernandez and Bradley Benavides strongly objected to the resolution, citing a legal opinion of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that in the determination of a quorum and that of a qualified majority, the three suspended councilors were not to be counted.
Reiterating that two appropriation ordinances were passed in accordance with applicable laws and the DILG opinion, Fernandez also lamented that when these two crucial measures were about to be taken up, the four remaining opposition members walked out.
The questioned ordinances were also passed under the new house rules, adopted when Councilors Erfe-Mejia, Alfie Fernandez and Irene Lim-Acosta were still under a 60-day preventive suspension.
He also noted that the resolution is similar to the petition for certiorari earlier filed before the Court of Appeals by Reyna and company questioning the legality and validity of Appropriation Ordinances 2299 and 0898.
The DBM-related resolution was the only item passed by the council during its session last week that lasted for more than 10 hours, starting at 10:00 a.m., prolonged by several recesses to allow the secretariat to produce and reproduce copies of official documents required by Efe-Mejia and company.