Cagayan gov sues vice gov, board for delayed budget

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba last week sued Vice Gov. Melvin Vargas Jr. and 12 provincial board members for not passing the province’s budget for 2017. Mamba cited “the necessity of the passage of the annual budget for the smooth operations of the provincial government’s … development,” in a petition he filed on May 5 at the Regional Trial Court Branch 3 here. He said Vargas and the board members neglected to perform their duties and should have held continuous sessions until the 2017 budget would have been approved. As a result, Cagayan is operating on a reenacted 2016 budget, Mamba said. Vargas said the board was confident it could pass the 2017 budget within 90 days, adding that the delay involved “a comprehensive scrutiny of the executive budget.” He denied insinuations that the board had delayed the budget over political differences with Mamba. —VILLAMOR VISAYA JR.