Isabela Mayor Irene Montilla complained anew that members of the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) have yet to approve the town’s proposed P270 million annual budget six months after it was submitted to the council.
Montilla, at a press conference Monday, April 11, said the town has to “figure out a way in solving these problems while the raging war of the unapproved budget goes on.”
Their problems continue to mount after the mayor’s office in the municipal hall was razed by fire, which left P100,000 in damages, on April 7.
Arson investigators, who were also at the press conference, dismissed claims that the mayor’s office was set on fire, stressing that the cause of the fire was electrical in nature.
Montilla lamented that at the start of the year, when the municipal hall was being renovated, there was already a recommendation to fix the faulty electrical wiring since the building was old, but they couldn’t do that since the budget was disapproved.
“Many people are affected because of the unapproved budget. There has been a domino effect. It disallowed us to pursue projects and programs we wanted to do for the town because we’re operating on a re-enacted budget,” she said.
EXPENSES
Because the town is operating on a re-enacted budget, it could not appropriate a P500,000 election budget for the Commission on Elections since there was no election in 2021, the mayor said.
She said there are appropriations in the election expenses that the mayor’s office could not cover as it is not allowed by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Montilla stressed that COA has already warned her because they know the situation and that they “will be tedious in checking where the money came from for the election.”
She said that she has already written and asked for the help of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Provincial Legal Office, and the Governor’s Office.
She added that the DILG has already ordered the SB members to submit their reply as to why the appropriation ordinance was not approved, while Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has already appealed and directed the council to approve the budget.
Montilla said that a difference of P105 million appropriation could not be used in 2022 due to the non-passage of the budget.
The annual budget increased to almost P270 million from P197 million last year, she said.
She added that part of the P105 million appropriation was for projects such as electrification, farm implements, land banking, health services, the 20 percent development fund, capital outlay, and others.
“We wasted the P105 million when we can use it to deliver services for the people. It’s like we throw it away when the need for the funds is so glaringly obvious,” Montilla said.
The mayor also confirmed claims that the SB was asking for a P2 million appropriation for their office.
She said they presented her a breakdown of the budget, but she refused because they only asked for the appropriation after they finished the four budget hearings, which they didn’t attend.
“They requested that months after the budget hearing…You will let others sacrifice just so you can get what you want? I call this ransom, plain and simple,” Montilla said.*