Coalition educates citizens on P1.7-B loan
A GROUPS coalition dubbed as Koalition Batok Loan (KBL) gathered some citizens of Bacolod City to educate them about the city’s P1.7 billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines.
The Citizens for Bet- ter Bacolod, the Movement for Alternative Politics in Bacolod and Negros Occidental, along with local lawyer Cesar Beloria and several others, discussed in a forum about how fast the city has approved all the documentary requirements including Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) actions with an apparent blinding speed that is up for a Guinness World Records.
During the forum, Beloria presented the timeline taken by the SP members in order to avail
of this loan.
“The process started on November 26, 2018 up December 28, 2018, the apparent mad rush to pass and approve all the necessary resolutions and ordinances for this P1.7 billion is a candidate for Guinness because it only took them 20 days to complete, from the sham public hearing on November 26, 2018, then the passage of the Appropriation Ordinance on December 14, 2018,” he said.
The blinding speed has deprived the public of a full and fair opportunity to scrutinize the conditions of the P1.7 billion loan, thereby violating the Constitutional policy of “full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest” as complemented by Section 7, Article III of the Bill of Rights that guarantees the right of the people to “information of public concern,” he said.
The P1.7 billion loan involves a gargantuan amount and the people of Bacolod City will bear the burden of paying for it for the next 15 years or until 2034, he said.
Citizens for Better Bacolod chairperson Lordgeline Alpers said their group was formed because of the many unresolved issues confronting the city and the people.
“This happened because for years we just allowed our city officials to manage the affairs of our city without us voicing our concerns and grievances,” Alpers said.
She added, “We have been lied on for many years despite the fact that they also claimed that they have done many things for our city. If the loan is approved, where will they spend it? If they say that they will use it to build a city hospital, then go. If they will use it to pay for our other loans so that we can have one loan to pay, then go...i believe that this is the voice of the majority of the concerned citizens of Bacolod. Let us show our courage and stand up for our city. This is a righteous fight and let us all stand up and raise our voice for the sake of the general welfare.”
She added, “we cannot do this alone. But if we do this together and unite as a citizen, then they would have a hard time to threaten anyone of us here.”
Moreover, Darlene Casiano who represents the academe, said the budget proposal of the city for 2019 which was submitted to the Department of Budget and Management Region 6 showed the actual expenditures of the City Government of Bacolod. “It was shown that for 2019, the city does not have a surplus, not even had a balanced budget. It was a deficit budget and we need to be alarmed of this. This is the official submission to the DBM, the oversight agency for budgets. Why is it that our 2019 budget is already a deficit?”
Edwin Balajadia, chairman of the Movement for Alternative Politicsnegros, a coalition of socio-political organizations and civil society formations in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, said this P1.7 billion loan of the city is an action against the poor and against the people as nowhere in the loan showed a direct impact to alleviate the poverty incidence in the city.
“Based on the figures, almost 60 percent of our residents belonged to the poor and we assess the impact of the loan to the poor, we could hardly see a project that could have a direct impact in lowering or reducing poverty in the city,” he said.
The city should have studied more the impact of this loan and its benefits to the people through the City Development Council to guide our city to come up with projects that can truly benefit the people, he added.*