CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 Jan) – “This morning I met old Tasio and the old man said to me: ‘Your rivals hate you more than they do your ideas. Do you wish that a thing shall not be done? Then propose it yourself, and though it were more useful than a miter, it would be rejected. Once they have defeated you, have the least forward person in the whole gathering propose what you want, and your rivals, in order to humiliate you, will accept it.[]
” – Don Filipo
The debate which 2011 budget ordinance of Misamis Oriental is the “real” one has become comical and it exposes how our elected officials rant to please their political principals and if threatened go berserk as if heaven is closing down.
I have been observing the 2011 Misamis Oriental budget imbroglio and can’t help but get reminded of chapter 20 of our National Hero’s classic Noli Me Tangere.
The leader of the liberals Don Filipo has been tired debating with the “oldies” or conservatives in the town council. In order to defeat the extravagant plan for the town fiesta, Don Filipo, a hated liberal by the Conservatives, presented the proposal of the conservatives and it was disapproved without thinking.
Comes the 2011 budget of Misamis Oriental, since it was proposed by Governor Oscar S. Moreno, it became the favorite punching bag of the new opposition in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that are allied with the PaDayon Pilipino of Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano.
I am sure now, that an astute politician and acknowledged as one of the local kingmakers, Dongkoy may not be very happy with what his followers are doing in the SP now.
And Moreno is blunt about it, the problems besetting the P1.385-billion budget of Misamis Oriental is nothing but aimed at defanging him and making him ineffective in his last term as governor.
The budget of his office has been cut by more than P50 million, while the budget for the SP has been increased by about P25 million, including about P100,000 additional monthly allowances and perks for the honorable members of the SP.
The budget ordinance was passed on third and final reading. Vice Governor Norris Babiera, who is now part of the minority of the 14-man SP after PaDayon claims to have gotten the support of 10 members of the august body, feigned surrender.
Acknowledging that they have the numbers, Babiera said that he would transmit the budget ordinance 1217-2011 to Moreno on Jan. 3, 2011, at first without signing it, but later on signed it with reservations, for the Governor to veto or approve.[]