• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Members of the Municipal Council of Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental yesterday justified the slashing of its own P2.1-million budget for 2024, a move being questioned by Vice Mayor Ian Villaflor.
In a press briefing, Councilors Joenes Frias, Dowen Michael Ogatis and Vincent Bryan Garcia cited irregularities and mismanagement of the Municipal Council’s budget as the reason.
Villaflor, who sits as the presiding officer, earlier questioned the move, saying the allocation has already been approved on second reading.
He said that based on the internal rules, there should be no amendments on the budget on the third and final reading except for the nominal voting for its approval.
Slashing the budget is also “illegal,” he added.
Frias, who chairs the committees on rules and privileges, ordinances and legal matters as well as good governance and public office, said that Villaflor allowed them to deliberate the proposed P197,494,417 budget of Moises Padilla, including the slashed budget.
Frias said it was him who moved for the budget deliberation, which “implied that we returned to the second reading”.
Based on the minutes of the session, Councilor Romulo Fajardo seconded the motion of Garcia and Frias to approve the proposed budget after the deliberation, which nobody opposed, thus, it was approved.
Ogatis said that Villaflor also participated in the deliberation of the slashed budget as he even negotiated for the allocation of P150,000 for payment of annual dues to the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines.
Villaflor earlier claimed that the budget slashing affected the Municipal Council the most, where the budget for job order and casual employees, fuel and lubricants was reduced to P1 each.
In response to the claims, Ogatis said that Villaflor is not transparent, and mismanaged the Municipal Council funds.
He alleged that 76 percent of the allocated funds goes to Villaflor while the remaining funds are equally distributed to the eight council members.
Of the P200,000 budget for fuel and oil lubricants, 75 percent of the fuel allocated to the municipal council is being used by the vice mayor since 2019, he said.
Ogatis also said that Villaflor has nine plantilla casual employees, with complete benefits, including Government Service Insurance System premium contribution, 13th and 14th month bonuses, and uniform allowance.
He said that each of the five out of the eight council members has only one job order worker assigned to them.
The three others have none.
Frias said that not only Villaflor, but all members of the Municipal Council, have been affected by the P1 budget for fuel and personnel services.
Garcia dismissed the claim of Villaflor that the budget slashing affected the delivery of basic services, stressing that the job of the Municipal Council is to deliberate and enact ordinances.
The delivery of basic services is the job of the executive department headed by the local chief executive, he added. | GB
