by Peter G. Jimenea
Heaven forbids
Should disaster strike, Gov. Arthur Defensor will be caught with pants down as no fund was appropriated by his kingdom for that purpose. He and his smart-heads were all asleep when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed the Annual Budget Appropriations Act last December 2010.
None of them ever noticed that the Sanggunian resolved to hold “in abeyance” the annual budget for the disaster risk reduction and management fund. The term “held in abeyance” for all intents and purposes meant the proposal for the P69 million annual budget for the purpose is cutely disapproved. As simple as that.
Now, the governor is at a loss. The 2011 appropriations ordinance did not pass the scrutiny of the province chief legal counsel Atty. Dennis Ventilacion. It may have passed the eyes of PA Raul Banias, Mr. Nereo Lujan of CAO-PIO, Provincial Treasurer Melba Sullivan and Budget Officer Elena Lim but none of them ever noticed it.
“That’s okay, after all, it is only held in abeyance”, they would explain. In Section 4 of the Appropriations Ordinance for 2011, the Sanggunian “held in abeyance” the calamity fund which will “only be released upon the approval of the Assembly.” But the big blow to Gov. Defensor is in the next line of the document.
“The Province Risk Reduction and Management Program submitted before the committee is unapproved until prior thorough consultations with the Assembly members,” continues the ordinance. Now you see how cute.
The implications of that are enormous. First, the governor is surrounded by old top-ranks in the Capitol who pretend to know a lot of things. Yes, with exception of the few real ones, they are the think-tanks with less-working brains.
I believed the Capitol disaster man Jerry Bionat, had warned Gov. Defensor of the consequences of the appropriations ordinance. But as it turn out he, preferred instead to heed the ideas of his smart heads to spend the disaster fund to buy equipment, both light and heavy, in millions of the province money.
Look, when disasters brought by typhoon Frank struck the city and province of Iloilo in June 20-21, 2008, then Gov. Niel Tupas quickly released the standby calamity fund to mobilize the people to procure and deliver relief goods to thousands of refugees.
That happened fast because the province had a ready fund duly approved by the Assembly. Gov. Tupas released them immediately without waiting for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to place the kingdom in a “state of calamity”. The legislature convened later, declaring a calamity and ratifying the initiative of Gov. Tupas in disbursing calamity funds.
Today, should a natural disaster strike again with a like-magnitude of typhoon Frank, the governor can only pray for a miracle which is as surely to happen as praying for the sun to rise in the west and set in the east. How I wish this comment to always stay corrective, not punitive.
The compounding problem is he must first convene the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for an emergency conference, then beg from the members to approve the disaster risk reduction and management program with the accompanying budget of P69 million.
But prior to the release of fund, Gov. Defensor must also pray for the assembly to place the province in a state of calamity. That is, to avoid unwanted consequences. Why did he place himself at the mercy of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in the use of calamity fund? This is not the Reporma kag Pagbag-o we expect from him.
I hope the governor can find ways to free himself from being hostage of the Sanggunian. Being the chief executive of the Iloilo Province, the governor is a little president. As such, he personifies the law that holds the community together either bearable or miserable.
He should not wait for another worse disaster to come before the glitches in his working relationship with the Sangguniang Panlalawigan can be fixed. Gov. Defensor must do it now as we still have no guarantee that during calamity, only Sanggunian members are endangered to become the casualty!
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