By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday that the rift between the Moises Padilla Sangguniang Bayan (SB) and Vice Mayor Ian Villaflor will not affect the municipal government’s operations and the delivery of basic services.
Lacson made the statement after Villaflor announced that he would file a complaint in court against the SB as his proposed P2.1 million budget, which was supposed to be used for fuel purchases and as salaries for job order and casual employees, was allegedly slashed by the SB.
Lacson said the proposed fund is operational, wherein several municipal needs will not be affected by the ongoing issue.
However, he emphasized that Moises Padilla Mayor Ella Garcia-Yulo should intervene by providing a solution to the issue as it is already considered an internal conflict.
“I think they should continue talking and try to settle the issues on hand. Otherwise, they will always have this infighting within the SB,” Lacson said.
Meanwhile, the Moises Padilla SB has responded to the allegations thrown at them by Villaflor.
In a statement, Councilors Joenes Frias, Vincent Garcia, Dowen Ogatis, Romulo Fajardo, and Tetey Aurelio said Villaflor was part of the deliberation that resulted in their reduced budget.
Frias also decried that Villaflor portrayed them as the villains, and said that the slashing of the budget was unanimously approved by the SB with Villaflor as the presiding officer.
He pointed out that Moises Padilla, being a third-class municipality, doesn’t have a separate Office of the Vice Mayor.
The office is part of the SB, contrary to Villaflor’s claims that his office budget was slashed.
Frias also claimed that Villaflor took part in the budget deliberation before they voted on the third and final reading.
Villaflor asserted that amendments are prohibited during the third and final reading, according to their internal regulations.
However, Frias highlighted that as the presiding officer, Villaflor guided the discussion and initiated deliberations, essentially returning to the budget’s second reading before the assembly voted on the third and final reading, leading to the unanimous approval of the reduced budget.
Ogatis also commented that they decided to slash the budget to P1 because of alleged irregularities in fund disbursement, pointing out that there is lack of transparency.
He reiterated that the budget cut was approved by all SB members.
Earlier, Villaflor sought help from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Negros Occidental to resolve the issue.
DILG-NegOcc director Teodora Sumagaysay advised Villaflor to file a complaint before the courts.
Sumagaysay pointed out that Villaflor’s complaint is considered a factual issue, and the DILG does not have adjudicatory power.
The vice mayor was also informed that if there are irregularities, it may be brought to court.
Villaflor said that he made the decision to escalate the matter to court because it was observed that the SB violated something, and his inquiries were continuously ignored.
He claimed that there were no reasons given for slashing the budget.
The SB approved the proposed 2024 municipal budget amounting to P197,494,794 on second reading in November 2023.
However, on the third and final reading in their regular session on December 6, 2023, the SB decided to slash P2,149,998 from the budget, a move which Villaflor claimed was baseless, based on the SB’s internal rules./DGB, WDJ