Cagayan board finally approves a budget of P4.5 billion for 2022

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Philippines —After being dragged out for months last year, the Cagayan Provincial Board finally approved the province’s P4.5-billion budget for 2022 on Friday.

But its passage was almost derailed when Vice Gov. Melvin Vargas Jr., the board’s presiding officer, and Majority Floor Leader Vilmer Viloria attempted to adjourn the session just as the body was finalizing deliberations on the province’s budget.

The budget had been delayed allegedly due to political wrangling between Vargas and reelectionist Gov. Manuel Mamba.

The vice governor is seeking reelection as the running mate of Dr. Zarah Lara, Mamba’s opponent for the gubernatorial race. Vargas is a known ally of reelectionist Cagayan Rep. Joseph Lara, the husband of Zarah, a political neophyte.

The provincial government has been operating with a reenacted budget since Jan. 1, after Vargas and several board members declined to pass the annual appropriation measure saying they needed time to scrutinize it first.

After the storm

The delay had prompted Mamba to order the provincial board to hold a special session on Feb. 18 to resolve the budget impasse. He also reportedly asked that the board members be hauled physically into the session hall should they refuse to participate in the special session.

Vargas and the board members complied with the order. But Vargas, as presiding officer of the provincial legislative body, later approved Viloria’s move to end the session, which Board Members Alfonso Llopis and Maila Ting-Que quickly blocked.

The meeting soon devolved into a verbal spat between Llopis, on one hand, and the combined force of the vice governor and his cousin, Board Member Bryan Paul Vargas, on the other.

At the end of a 30-minute recess to calm down everyone, the board finally passed the budget, which is now awaiting Mamba’s signature.

—VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.