Six months have passed since Governor Suarez sent to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan his proposed P3.8-B budget and it's still back to square one. What does that say about Suarez's leadership?
The crafting of the 2021 budget of the Provincial Government of Quezon started when the proposed budget worth P3.875 billion, prepared by the executive branch headed by Gov. Danilo Suarez, was received by the Sangguniang Panglalawigan on Oct. 16, 2020 and was calendared in the agenda on Oct. 30.
But for various reasons it took more than 2 and a half months later or on Jan. 15, 2021 when the Special Committee on 2021 Annual Budget - created and agreed upon by the 13 SP members along with vice governor and SP Presiding Officer Samuel Nantes - started to conduct budget hearings.
The 5-man Special Committee is chaired by 4th District board member Isaias Ubana II along with board members Romano Franco Talaga (2nd district), Donaldo Suarez (3rd district), Rhodora Tan (4th district) and Angelo Eduarte (ex-officio board member representing the provincial councilors league) as members.
Committee reorganization
The prolonged delay in considering the budget was apparently caused by the committee reorganization on Sept. 18 last year engineered by Ubana and fellow district board member Rhoderick Magbuhos who have previously moved to break away from the majority group and formed themselves as minority bloc of 2 in the SP.
Earlier, on Sept. 11, Magbuhos proposed the committee reorganization and it was seconded and approved by board members Claro Talaga Jr., Elizabeth Sio, Yna Liwanag-Asistio, Romano Talaga, Ireneo Boongaling, Eduarte and Tan, along with Ubana and Magbuhos. They voted to declare all the SP standing committees vacant and to hold the committee reorganization on the next regular session on Sept. 18.
On Sept. 18, citing the need for good governance and transparency in the SP, Ubana and Magbuhos moved to realize the committee reorganization which was seconded and approved by Talaga Jr., Sio, Eduarte, Boongaling and Armando. Board member Romano Talaga acted as presiding officer.
The committee reorganization, which affected all 27 SP standing committees, was boycotted by board members Alona Obispo, Yna Liwanag-Asistio, Reynante Arrogancia, Suarez and Tan, along with vice governor Nantes, who all did not show up.
As it virtually split the 13 SP members into 8 against 5, the committee reorganization severed the once almost monolithic unity of the SP which has long deferred to the subtle imposition of the executive branch way back since 2010 of then Gov. David ‘Jayjay’ Suarez, now 2nd district congressman, who was succeeded by his father in the provincial capitol in 2019.
No to the committee reorganization
The 5 SP members rejected the committee reorganization and called for a status quo and vacancy for all of the committees. Eventually they submitted the contentious matter to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for resolution despite the protest of the new majority bloc which claimed that the committee reorganization was valid and regular citing Section 5 of the SP Internal Rules which states that 8 members constitute a quorum including the presiding officer.
Since then the SP conducted almost sporadic sessions, mostly virtual or online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with no existing standing committees and only approving pressing legislative measures they have agreed upon as they await the resolution of their internal dispute from the DILG.
Aware of the 90-day prescription period of the DILG in passing the annual budget, the Special Committee started to conduct hearings on the 2021 annual budget on Jan. 15 followed on Jan. 22, 27; Feb. 3, 10, 19, 26; and then on March 5, 12 19 and the last was on March 23 for a total of 11 budget hearings.
Heads of the various provincial government departments, agencies and the 13 provincial hospitals presented their proposed budgets and they were asked and grilled by the Special Committee who were even joined several times by their colleagues along with Nantes.
Executive-legislative session
Seeing the uncertainty, Governor Suarez on March 26 requested for an Executive-Legislative Session (ELS) on Mar. 30 apparently to iron out the kinks. Ubana in a radio interview called the ELS improper and not provided for in the Local Government Code adding he was not going to attend it.
Also on that day, Friday, board members Suarez, Obispo, Liwanag and Tan, along with Nantes called for a press conference in which they explained and appealed for the necessity of passing the provincial annual budget claiming the SP members have 3 remaining days to forestall a reenacted budget.
Board member Suarez disclosed that the Special Committee had 2 options: One, to have a balance of the difference between the proposed annual budget and the provincial Annual Investment Plan (AIP) and, two, to pass the annual budget and later on to draft a supplemental budget aligned with the AIP. The Provincial Development Council, composed of various local chief executives of the province along with several provincial government officials and SP members, prepares the AIP that serves as guidance in the drafting of the provincial annual budget.
The board member, son of Gov. Suarez, claimed that after the 90-day prescription period for the hearing of the annual budget, if it is not yet passed, the province will revert to a reenacted budget which would mean the loss of the 20% development fund along with the development programs and jobs to be generated by the proposed annual budget.
He cited a DILG-Dept. of Budget and Management memorandum circular #2 which provides that the local government units can pass the supplemental budget for COVID-19 response after passing the annual budget.
Obispo supported Suarez adding that whatever discrepancy between the AIP and the proposed annual budget can be rectified or amended after passing first the annual budget.
For her part, Liwanag-Asistio, said that included in the proposed annual budget for 2021 is the salary increase of the medical frontliners, the nurses, and the job-order employees which would not push thru if the budget for last year is reenacted.
On Monday, March 30, only 3 board members showed up to attend the ELS – Suarez, Liwanag and Tan presided by Vice Gov. Sam Nantes who allowed the governor to be shown on video appealing for the SP members to consider passing the annual budget for the sake of the welfare of the province during the pandemic.
Special session
After the failed ELS which was boycotted by the majority bloc led by Ubana, Governor Suarez asked for a special session to be held the next day, March 31. This was attended by all the SP members except Arrogancia who was sick.
The tense political drama at the special session began at 10AM when several rallyists gathered across the Governor’s Mansion and at the entrance of the SP session hall building, holding placards screaming with messages confronting the SP members and demanding to pass the budget.
The special session hall was jammed with people at the gallery along with numerous local media practitioners as Ubana, chairman of the 5-man Special Committee, stood up to render his report zeroing in on the findings of the committee which were as follows:
Inconsistency between the governor’s budget message and the substantial provisions of the proposed executive budget particularly as it claims “funds for projects and interventions related to disaster preparedness and response efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 were allocated” but is contradicted by the reduction of almost 40% of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of 13 provincial hospitals.
The report said that the committee is not satisfied by the absence of specific programs, projects and activities to implement the State Policies as enunciated in Republic Act No. 11469 or Bayanihan to Heal as One Act which provides to establish mechanism to “reduce the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the socio-economic well-being of the Filipinos through the provisions of assistance, subsidies and other forms of economic relief.”
The report also mentioned the existence of lump sum appropriations in violation of relevant budget standards which include the P62 million in the Office of the Governor under the Lingap sa Kalusugan program and P111.4 million categorized as “various aids under other programs in the same office and several others.”
Lastly it cited the inconsistency between the amount in the AIP and the proposed executive budget which included the deficiency of P32 million in the Office of the Governor under Personnel Services which the AIP provides for only P76 million but has an actual allocation of more than P108 million in the proposed budget; the Office of the Governor has an AIP amount of P643,000 but has an allocation in the proposed budget of P15 million; the Quezon Medical Center under its Personnel Services has an AIP allocation of more than P357 million as compared to the actual allocation of P378 million in the proposed executive budget with a deficiency of more than P20 million.
The report said that the Special Committee has uncovered an AIP deficiency of more than P128 million as contained in several offices and programs contained in the executive budget contrary to budgetary allocations. The panel affirmed that the proposed budget is “legally flawed and contrary to budgetary standards, jurisprudence and regulations." It then recommended to disapprove the proposed annual budget and to transmit it back to Suarez for his appropriate action.
SP members speak up
After Ubana rendered his report, Nantes allowed the SP members to speak up before the actual ‘division of the house’.
First to stand was Obispo who stretched her 10 minutes allotted time to almost a half hour in expressing her sentiments about the pressing need to pass the provincial annual budget.
“Not to approve the budget is another calamity for the ordinary people in our province,” she said, adding “Tuloy ang suweldo ko bilang bokal kahit di aprobahan itong budget, kakain ang mga opisyales ng ating lalawigan, pero paano ang mga nasa laylayan?”
Board member Suarez reacting on the alleged lump sums in the proposed annual budget said: “The Office of the Vice Governor also has lump sums in its proposed budget but when the vice governor presented it no one asked among the SP members.”
It was however board member Tan who reduced to silence everyone in the SP session hall when, in a breaking voice filled with real emotion, she asked her fellow board members:
“Hindi ba puwede magsama-sama tayo sa ating annual budget bago tayo magpartiduhan? Nasa pandemya na nga tayo ay may hatian pa tayo dito. Sana lang ay mas manaig ang ating puso at balanse ang isip natin sa ating pagpapasiya.”
At the actual voting, as expected, 8 SP members belonging to the majority bloc led by Ubana rejected the proposed executive provincial annual budget for 2021, while 4 voted for its approval except Arrogancia who has sent a letter explaining his absence but expressed his support for the proposed annual budget.
No 20% development fund, no S-O-P
Asked to comment about the implication of the reenacted provincial annual budget, former Quezon 4th district board member Sonny Pulgar, a lawyer, cited Sec. 323 of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code which provides that in case of a reenacted budget “only the annual appropriations for salaries and wages of existing positions, statutory and contractual obligations, and essential operating expenses authorized in the annual and supplemental budgets for the preceding year shall be deemed reenacted and disbursement of funds shall be in accordance therewith.”
Pulgar minced no words when he said that only salaries and wages and MOOE can be released in a reenacted budget but the 20% development fund and its hidden ‘S-O-P’ - apparently referring to ‘grease’ money on projects - cannot be utilized by the provincial chief executive, and all government contracts for 2021 need the SP approval.