After six months of deliberations, the Laoag City council finally approved on March 22, during a special session, the 2005 budget.

The six-month study and review of the proposed budget submitted by the local finance committee however resulted in the slashing of P10 million as the budget passed by the council for the city government for this year was only P262,444,213.22 as against the proposed budget of P272,624,999.35.

In view of this, Laoag City Mayor Michael V. Fariñas was disappointed with the P10 million budget cut as he pointed out that the deleted appropriations from the budget were all important in the city government’s daily operation.

Among the hardest hit, according to Fariñas were the city’s Oplan Dalus and peace and order programs as gasoline allowances for the city Philippine National Police (PNP) and garbage trucks were greatly reduced.

As a result, the PNP might be forced to resort to “foot patrolling” as they no longer have enough gasoline allowance to continue with their regular mobile patrol around the city.

The PNP gasoline allowance was drastically reduced from P700,000 last year to only P100,000 for this year.

“Kahit gaano katalino at kagaling ang mga taga PNP kung wala naming budget na kinakailangan e walang patutunguhan ‘yan. Saying naman ang mga bagong biling Pajero kasi wala naming pambili ng gasoline (Even if members of the PNP are very good and intelligent, it would mean nothing without the corresponding budget needed for them to their jobs efficiently. The newly acquired Pajeros would also become just a waste because there would be no money for gasoline),” city PNP officer-in-charge Danilo Garcia said.

However, in reaction to this, Laoag City Vice Mayor Marlon Wayne D. Manuel, presiding officer of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, said the city PNP should not rely too much on the local government unit since what it being given them is only an aid, and that majority of their budget comes from the PNP central office.

Fariñas also said that garbage collection, which is being done twice a week, may also be rescheduled to twice a month because of the budget deletions.

Others that were affected by the budget cuts, Fariñas said, were the Department of Public Safety (DPS), which may be dismantled in June after the effectivity of the ordinance creating the said office expires; the slashing of gasoline allowance for the City Engineer’s Office, the removal of the maintenance budget for the city’s sanitary landfill; and the withholding of anti-rabies medicine purchases.

In a bid to remedy the situation Fariñas deemed as too drastic, he convened all of the city government’s department heads to a closed door meeting on March 28 wherein he instructed the said people to submit their respective justifications for their office budgets, which would be used for a possible move to reinstate the slashed amount in the annual budget.

Fariñas also mentioned that he might veto certain portions of the ordinance so the members of the council would be more considerate of the problems that city government may encounter in the future because of the reduced budget.

Fariñas also stressed that it would not be him or his family that would suffer from the reduced budget but the people of Laoag as he also hoped that the council would not override his veto on the said ordinance.

Meanwhile, Manuel also emphasized that the members of the city council only did what was expected of them as they deliberated on what are the really needs of the city government, budget-wise.

The new city vice mayor also warned Fariñas against vetoing the said budget ordinance.

“If vetoed by the city mayor, adda met joker mi, isu a samin to lang palusposan a mai-release na tay alas na (we also have a joker, and we would only allow him to release his ace after we released ours),” Manuel said.

Manuel however also allayed fears of another showdown between the two branches of the local government as he said the city council is open to accommodate possible approval of supplemental budgets just in case the approved budget would not be enough for the whole year.

Dominic B. dela Cruz