P30-million, 10-classroom deal goes to committee as council summons City Engineer over stalled projects
Ten new classrooms are within reach for two Pagadian elementary schools, but not yet. At the 50th Regular Session the council chose scrutiny over speed on a P30-million school-building agreement. It also put the city’s unfinished infrastructure on notice: the City Engineer has been invited to explain on October 14.
- Sitting50th Regular Session
- DateSeptember 23, 2026
- PresidingVice Mayor Monique Shaira Y. To
- Quorum7 at roll call
- Resolutions adopted11
- Referred to committee1
Ten classrooms, one careful pause
The Mayor asked for authority to sign a Supplementary Memorandum of Agreement with DepEd, building on a June 21, 2026 agreement. Councilor Bienvenido C. Culve explained what it buys.
The proposed DepEd agreement
Culve moved to treat it as urgent. Floor Leader Jackielyn Krystyl C. Bana asked the body to slow down: there were legal concerns about the land the buildings would stand on. After a recess the agreement went jointly to three committees: Laws, Planning and Landed Estates, and Education.
The pause has a context. Two weeks earlier DepEd told the council that only 16 school sites in the city are titled to DepEd and that five sit on land still privately titled. Settling the ground first can save a building later.
The City Engineer is invited
Councilor Maphilindo Q. Obaob described two problems residents see every day. One is the condition of the access road to the city sanitary landfill at Bagong Silang, Balangasan District. The other is the unfinished sidewalk with covered drainage at the corner of J.P. Rizal Avenue and Gov. V. Cerilles Street, in front of the former Metrobank, which he called “unsafe and hazardous to pedestrians” besides being an eyesore.
Resolution Nos. 2026-0544 and 2026-0545 ask the Mayor to have the City Engineer and the Local Finance Committee give both priority in the 2027 budget. Councilor Ariel J. Lim, Jr. took it further: members had raised several unfinished or incomplete city projects, so the council should hear directly from the engineer. City Engineer Engr. Gloria B. Samson has been invited to the October 14 session at 9:00 a.m.
The government center takes shape
Two land measures moved the Regional Government Center in Balintawak forward. Resolution No. 2026-0536 declares seven adjoining parcels, Lot Nos. 5881-K-1 to 5881-K-7 with a combined 4,998 square meters, indispensable to the public for developing the center. Resolution No. 2026-0537 authorizes the Mayor to donate a 1,000-square-meter city lot to the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office for a permanent field office.
Counting August’s donations to GSIS and the Philippine Army, the council has now authorized land donations to three national government offices at the center within five weeks.
Health, food and farms
Resolution No. 2026-0538 clears a MOA with the DOH Zamboanga Peninsula Center for Health Development and the Pagadian City Infirmary for the transfer of funds under the MAIFIP program, which helps indigent and financially incapacitated patients pay for care.
Two P15.5-million proposals, a rice-distribution project for individuals in crisis and a multi-purpose building, went back to the Mayor without action for coordination with the DBM. The committee reported that the rice proposal had already been acted on and the building was still awaiting its budget.
A livestock cooperative got the signature it was waiting for. ZAMSURGEA Community Multi-Purpose Cooperative president Loy Canales said the DA’s LEED multiplier-farm award, granted in July, could not release funds without an approved MOA. Resolution No. 2026-0541 authorizes it. Councilor Ronald Christopher Glenn L. Ariosa pointed out that the draft specifies 29 head of livestock, not 30. The cooperative will raise offspring that the DA buys back for dispersal to other beneficiaries.
Video stills: Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City, official recording of the 50th Regular Session, September 23, 2026.
What to watch next
The council declared no session for September 28–30 so committees can clear pending work. It treated the Philippine Councilors League education program in Clark, Pampanga on October 7–9 as official business, moving the 51st Regular Session to October 14, the day the City Engineer is expected.
Every decision on the record
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0535
Declares Barangay Lower Sibatang Supplemental Budget (Appropriation Ordinance No. 02, s. 2026) operative.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0536
Declares Lot Nos. 5881-K-1 to 5881-K-7 (4,998 sq m), Balintawak, indispensable for the Regional Government Center.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0537
Authorizes the Mayor to sign a Deed of Donation to PVAO over Lot 5-A, Block 16-A (1,000 sq m), PCA Regional Center, for its permanent field service office.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0538
Authorizes a MOA with DOH-ZP CHD and the Pagadian City Infirmary on MAIFIP fund transfer.
Remanded / returned · Resolution No. 2026-0539
Returns to the Mayor, without action, the P15,500,000.00 rice-distribution and P15,500,000.00 multi-purpose building proposals, for action with DBM under LGSF-FALGU.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0540
Treats the PCL 3rd Quarterly CLLEP (Oct. 7–9, Clark, Pampanga) as official business; resets the 51st Regular Session to Oct. 14, 2026.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0541
Authorizes a MOA with DA-IX and ZAMSURGEA Community MPC on the LEED multiplier-farm project.
Remanded / returned · Resolution No. 2026-0542
Returns Bulatok Ordinance No. 6, s. 2026 (solid waste and plastic reduction) to clarify the third-offense penalty.
Adopted · Resolution No. 2026-0543
Declares no session on Sept. 28–30, 2026 for committee work.
Adopted · Resolution Nos. 2026-0544 & 0545
Ask for CY 2027 priority funding for the sanitary landfill access road (Bagong Silang, Balangasan) and the unfinished J.P. Rizal Ave.–Gov. V. Cerilles St. sidewalk with covered drainage.
Referred to committee · Laws; Planning; Education
Supplementary MOA with DepEd, P30,000,000.00, for classrooms at Pablo Litigio (P24M) and Dumagoc (P6M) elementary schools.
Noted or filed
Monkeypox protocol report (city already has guidelines); Lala and Pedulonan audit reports; a COMELEC notice of finality in election protest EPC No. 2025-019 (the minutes do not describe the ruling); PCL and DILG invitations.
Source: Official minutes of the 50th Regular Session of the 15th City Council, Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City, September 23, 2026. Figures, names and measure numbers are taken from the minutes as written. Photos: video stills from the official session recording of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Pagadian City.
