Dagupan SP denies Bangus Fest 2011 of funding

DAGUPAN CITY – The Bangus Festival 2011 executive committee will have
to depend on self-initiated funding after the Sangguniang Panlungsod
(SP) disapproved the budget allocated for the tourism and cultural
heritage program of the city.
This year’s tourism and cultural heritage program was
supposed to have a budget of P1 million each for a total of P2
million, but the SP disapproved the proposed budget.
The Ordinance Authorizing the Annual Budget of City
Government of Dagupan for Fiscal Year 2011 in the Total Amount of
P487,116,296.73 covering the Various Expenditures for the Operation of
the Dagupan City Government for Fiscal Year 2011, showed that the two items have zero budget.
It was observed, however, that for the last three
years, the city has been funding the festival especially during the
time when Vice Mayor Belen T. Fernandez was the executive chairman in
the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Bangus Festivals. Those years, city spent a total
of P10,375,000 million...

Records showed that the budget for Bangus Festival was taken from the fund
allocated for tourism and cultural heritage program in the amount of
P3 million during the last administration. Each program was allocated
P1.5 million budget, which is higher than this year’s proposed
budget of only P1 million.
In the 2008 festival, several barangays were given
financial assistance each in the amount of P50,000 including the
Dagupan City National High School for their participation in the
Gilon-Gilon.
The fund was released through Ordinance Nos.
1915-2008, 1933-2009, and 1946-2010.
This year’s festival will proceed as scheduled on
April 8 with a kick-off program on March 30 and 31 at SM Rosales.
Part of the major activities is the launching of the
city’s own version of a river cruise and the unveiling of the city’s
new seal.