Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo is seeking the opinion of the Department of Interior and Local Government on whether the P214 million Moises Padilla budget for 2022 can be approved by only six members of the town’s Sangguniang Bayan.
“We only have five (SB) members and one presiding officer out of 11 so we don’t know if that can be considered a quorum,” she said.
That is because four SB members are detained on murder charges, while once councilor facing rape raps is at-large, she said.
“We are waiting for the opinion of the DILG, and what is a possible option,” Yulo said.
Vice Mayor Ian Villaflor and SB members Jimmie Don Plaza, Jose Morito Flores and Vincent Garcia are detained for what they have called trumped up and politically motivated murder charges.
They were accused of killing Councilor Jolomar Hilario in 2019.
Councilor Fred Bangcaya has gone on indefinite leave and could not be located by the police serving his warrant of arrest for rape on Tuesday.
The non approval of the budget would result in a reenacted budget, and could affect the town’s COVID-19 response programs in 2022, Yulo said.*