Court issues TRO vs Misamis Oriental 2020 budget

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – A regional trial court on June 29 issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Misamis Oriental’s budget for 2020, granting the petition of Vice Governor Jeremy Jonahmar Pelaez who claimed the budget ordinance submitted to the regional Department of Budget and Management lacked the necessary requirements to make it valid.

RTC Branch 24 pairing judge Vincent Rosales issued the 20-day TRO, essentially directing the provincial government not to implement its P3.5 billion annual budget and supplemental budgets.

In his decision, Rosales said that evidence submitted to the court showed that:

• the Budget Ordinance for 2020 was drafted in violation of the law and rules governing the matter;
• the Budget Ordinance for 2020 was not posted as required by law for its effectivity; and
• majority members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan allied with the incumbent governor had already approved amendatory ordinances to un-posted Budget Ordinance for 2020;
• respondent province of Misamis Oriental, through its representative, the Provincial Governor Yevgeny Vincente B. Emano, his agents, and any other persons acting in his behalf, are hereby directed and enjoined from implementing the Budget Ordinance (Ordinance No. 1458-2020) and its Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance (Ordinance No. 1464-2020) and from taking any and all actions pertinent to the further implementation thereto.

Efforts vs pandemic

Following the TRO, Emano ordered a suspension of disbursements at the provincial capitol until the order is lifted.

On its Facebook page, the Misamis Oriental public information office said that Emano “expressed grief and disappointment that the TRO was issued during a critical time when the province is in the heat of its battle against COVID-19.”

Misamis Oriental has 4 confirmed coronavirus cases.

“In addition, Governor Bambi fears that the temporary halting of the budget would effectively disable the provincial capitol’s services and programs to the people,” the Misamis Oriental PIO said.

The provincial PIO added that the “disbursement freeze” would not only affect the efforts to address the pandemic, such as providing meals to the frontliners at the quarantine checkpoints, but also the salaries of casual and job-order employees.

Pelaez signature

The petition was filed by Pelaez and his allies at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, board members Jessa Josephine Mugot and Jerry Khu.

On November 18, 2020, the Misamis Oriental Provincial Legislative Board Council passed the P3.5 billion 2020 budget through Budget Ordinance (BO) No. 1458-2020. Its Supplemental Appropriation Ordinance (Ordinance No. 1464-2020) was enacted last Feb. 10.

These were submitted to the DBM Region 10 for approval. But according to Pelaez, the BO submitted to the DBM did not bear his signature.

Pelaez said that as the presiding officer of the provincial legislative board, the vice governor’s signature is needed in the annual budget and other pertinent documents.

Letters from the DMB-10 separately addressed to Pelaez and  Emano indicated that the agency did not go over the province’s annual budget because of the lack of signatures.

This alleged non-compliance of the agency’s requirements was one of the grounds for Rosales to issue the TRO.

DBM-10 on March 4 wrote Emano and the SP members, stating that  it returned the Appropriation Ordinances 1445-2019 and 1458-2020 of the provincial government because these “lack the required signatories and/or the officials who signed in said documents are not the appropriate signatories.”

The signatories are Emano, Pelaez, SP secretary Atty Ernesto Sotto Jr., Pelaez, and the local planning and budget officers.

Aside from accusing the provincial board’s ruling party for submitting the budget ordinance without his signature, Pelaez said that it was also “substantially different” from what the SP approved during its 17^th regular session.

“It clearly appears that there were post-approval inclusions in the Budget Ordinance which were unauthorized as further elucidated hereinafter,” Pelaez said.

No budget insertions

However, SP board member Wayne Militante, an ally of Emano, denied that the majority members made insertions in the BO. In fact, Militante said, they slashed several provisions of the BO for 2020. Militante added that they submitted unsigned documents because the original copies were kept from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“We submitted the copies of the BO because the original copies were not available. It was kept from us,” Militante said. It was the SP that submitted the documents for the Budget Ordinance to the DBM when it should have been the Office of the Vice-Governor that submitted the documents.

Militante said that the documents are with Pelaez’s office. “They already refused to sign, how can you expect that they will deliver the original documents to the DBM?” Militante said.

“I had an ill feeling to hear that they (Pelaez camp) accused us of budget insertion when we  slashed the budget. That doesn’t sit well with me,” Militante said.

Provincial administrator Jocelyn Lood-Mateo said that the submission of the documents to DBM was incumbent upon the SP.

“It was the SP that submitted those documents to the DBM. According to the SP, there are no signatures of the vice governor because he refused to sign,” Lood-Mateo said.

“It is incumbent on the SP (submission to DBM) because they are the legislative branch of the LGU, the executive branch has nothing to do with it (submission of documents without the required signatures). Whatever happens to the ordinance, that is on them,” Lood-Mateo said.

Governor Emano said that according to the Local Government Code, if the vice-governor refused to sign the ordinance, the majority still has other options. “Because not even the governor can impede the projects and program implementations of the government,” Emano said.

Lood-Mateo added that the letter of the DBM to Emano did not state that the 2020 budget of the province is inoperative. “How can there be a re-enacted 2019 budget when there is already an approved 2020 budget? It cannot be,” Lood-Mateo said.

Provincial Legal Office chief Virgilio Neil Pacana said that they will seek an immediate reversal of the TRO because the provincial government cannot function without its budget.

“We will ask the court to lift the TRO the soonest possible because the provincial government cannot function without its budget,” Pacana said. – Rappler.com