By Edalyn Acta & Arjay Allado
Outgoing Provincial Board Member Jonathan “Sonny” Besa denied that politics was behind the non-approval of the annual budget of the Municipality of Panay, where he is running against incumbent Mayor Vicente “Vic” Bermejo of One Capiz.
“Ngaa man ila ka partido nag pirma sa committee report? Mangkoton partymate nila kon naga pamulitika ako (Why did their allies signed the committee report? They should ask their partymates if I’m politicizing this),” Besa said.
Besa is referring to Board Members Thea Faith Reyes and Gilbert Ardivilla, who are One Capiz candidates.
Both Reyes and Ardivilla signed the committee report that detailed the reasons why Capiz Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) did not approve the 2025 annual budget of Panay local government unit (LGU).
To recall, the Capiz SP found that Panay LGU’s budget was too generic while there was lack of funds for heads of the municipal planning, assessor, treasurer, and engineering offices.
The Capiz SP also asked the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Panay to comply with the recommendations to pave way for the enactment of Panay LGU’s annual budget, which is currently retroactive.
Besa also emphasized that the second SB session called by Bermejo’s allies last January 31, 2025 was invalid as the Local Government Code only allows one session per day.
On that second SB session, allies of Bermejo tackled the approval of a supplemental budget worth P28 million.
“The ordinance [on the supplemental budget] cannot be declared valid as it was a product of an illegal session. The SP cannot tolerate this illegal act,” Besa said.
Besa has reason to believe that Bermejo is knowledgeable of the process of annual budgets and legislative sessions after having been a local chief executive for nearly 40 years.
Bermejo served as governor of Capiz and mayor not only of Panay, but also of Roxas City.
