For the fifth time, the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod again deferred action on the request of acting Mayor Greg Gasataya to grant acting City Administrator Goldwyn Nifras authority to counter-sign checks in the account of the city with Land Bank of the Philippines. It also deferred action of the proposed ordinance of Councilor Archie Baribar to authorize Gasataya while they are trying to solve the matter of granting authority to Nifras to sign checks, during its regular session yesterday after almost two hours of deliberation. Acting Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, said the members of the City Council had a lot of questions that have to be answered, due to the non-appearance of Nifras, who is suffering from a leg injury due to an accident. Because of the SP's failure to grant Nifras authority, Familiaran said that the City Treasurer's Office cannot release the salaries of regular employees which is sourced from the Land Bank of the Philippines, that requires an SP resolution granting the city administrator authority to co-sign checks drawn from the bank. Familiaran said he does not know if this can be considered an emergency case for Gasataya to sign checks. The decision will depend on Gasataya and his legal team, if they will consider this as an emergency matter, he said. According to the City Treasurer, Familiaran said, the city may probably pay 27 percent in penalty and surcharges with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, if it fails to pay its withholding tax today. Baribar said they will see if they can do something about it and if that would really happen. “Because of want of an open dialog, so many things are raised as scarecrows to us. Unless we have developed confidence and trust building, we will not be able to move forward as fast as we anticipate,” he said. Baribar said he wanted to find a “win-win” situation, not a “lose-lose” condition, happen. But it appears that the City Council decided to defer the ordinance he proposed. He said he believes there is a need for an executive-legislative caucus to discuss the matter because many questions need to be answered. An earlier executive-legislative caucus did not push through due to “prior commitments” of some councilors, he said. City Treasurer Giovanni Balalilhe, who appeared before the SP, yesterday, said he already prepared the checks to be withdrawn from the LBP because they do not want to be in default in their remittances to BIR that should be done every 10 th day of the month. However, they may not be able to withdraw the budget from LBP for the salaries of the regular employees because of the failure of the SP to act on Nifras' authority, he said. This can really affect the transactions and other obligations of the city government, he added. Balalilhi also pointed out that the funds of the city with the Philippine National Bank is just enough for the salaries and wages of job order casual employees for November, and is not sufficient to pay the salaries of regular employees, which should be drawn from LBP. The Internal Revenue Allotment of the city is deposited with LBP while the city's collection is with PNB, he said. He also called up the manager of LBP and was told that they only follow what is provided in Section 345 of the Local Government Code that only the city administrator can counter-sign checks. Balalilhi said that, based on the 2008 audit memorandum of the Commission on Audit, the city administrator is authorized as counter-signatory of checks. If you do not follow the COA memorandum they will be disallowed, he said. Meanwhile, Councilor Claudio Puentevella said Gasataya should have not overreacted to the absence of the majority of the members of the SP during a special session he requested for Monday because they have their own “personal reasons”. Puentevella said Gasataya should have not demanded for their presence because they also have their own commitments even before he scheduled the special session. However, Gasataya said they are trying to beat the deadline to prevent being imposed penalties and surcharges for failure to remit their obligations to BIR by December 10 with the LBP. If there are no deadlines to pay their obligations, they can wait for several sessions, he said. Gasataya said they believe this is part of a grand design to ensure that the acting mayor cannot function. The moment they authorize Nifras to counter-sign checks with LBP, there will be no problem and the city will be spared from paying penalties and surcharges running to millions of pesos, he said.*CGS BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO
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