LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal council passed a resolution expressing the intention of the municipal government for the possible termination of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the municipal government and the agriculture department relative to the funding and construction of the La Trinidad Community Business center situated within the vicinity of the vegetable trading post.
Under Resolution No. 172, series of 2022, the Committees on Laws, Rules and Regulations, Public Markets and Local Economic Enterprise and Agriculture were unanimous in submitting the proposed termination of this agreement with the agriculture department after the latter allegedly failed to release the committed funds worth P30 million for the put-up of the La Trinidad Community Business Center.
Earlier, the municipal government entered into a MOA with the agriculture department for the proposed funding and construction of the P30 million community business center with the agency releasing the funds in tranches.
The council noted that despite earnest efforts and continuous follow-up by the municipal government with the agriculture department for the release of the remaining funds to complete the said center, the latter had not released the needed funds that caused a serious delay in the completion and eventual utilization of the said facility.
The said resolution was transmitted by the municipal government to the Office of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. who is acting as the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture for his information, guidance and ready reference.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda claimed that once the agriculture department will favorably act on the intention of the municipal government to rescind the earlier agreement, the municipal government will be allocating funds from available local sources to complete the structure to be used to aggressively promote local products to benefit local enterprises.
He pointed out that former agriculture officials had been committing the release of the remaining balance of the P30 million funding support that will be provided to the municipal government but only a portion of this had been released which was used to start the implementation of the project.
According to him, former agriculture officials had also made in public the release of the remaining balance of the funds that is why the municipal government relied on such commitment until their tenure of office expired when the new administration took over, thus, the municipal government decided to instead rescind the agreement as it no longer expects the committed funds to be available for release by the new administration.
The municipal chief executive disclosed that based on the latest follow-up by the municipal government on the status of the resolution with the agriculture department, it is reported that this is said to be with the legal office of the department for its comments and recommendations on what will be the future steps that will be undertaken to complete the rescission process so that the municipal government can proceed with the completion of the project using available local funds.
