TAGBILARAN CITY – The ruling majority of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has outnumbered the minority members in voting the controversial Calape Municipal Ordinances being vetoed by the Municipal Mayor Atty. Julius Caesar F. Herrera.
Provincial Board Member Atty. Venzencio Arcamo objected to the motion of BM Gloria Gementiza, ex-officio member representing the Philippine Councilors’ League Bohol chapter, during the session the other day.
Gementiza, chair of the Municipal Ordinance Review committee, moved to return the Mun. Ord. 2022-09 of Calape, Bohol, granting authority to the Vice Mayor to Hire Casual Employees through Job Order and/or Contract of Service for the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan, Office of the Vice Mayor, and Office of the Municipal Secretary/Secretary to the Sangguniang Bayan, Calape, Bohol and for other related purposes.
The other measure was Res. No. 2022-358 of Calape, Bohol, overriding the Veto of the Municipal Mayor on Municipal Ordinance No. 2022-09 of Calape, Bohol.
The recommendation for Mun. Ord. 2022-09, which was adopted by the SP in a vote during the plenary, was prompted for the said Ordinances was in “itself is in violation of the Local Government Code of 1991, per recommendation by the Provincial Legal Officer.”
Res. No. 2022-358 of Calape, Bohol, the committee report said, did “not validly overridden by the Sangguniang Bayan considering that it only mustered seven (7) votes, short of eight (8) votes required in view of Section 55 (c), in relation to Section 446 (a) of the Local Government Code of 1991, hence, the Ordinance is ineffective, per recommendation by the Provincial Legal Officer.”
Those who voted in favor of the committee’s recommendation were: Board Members Atty. Tomas Abapo, Jr., Tita V. Baja, Nathaniel Binlod, Greg Jala, Gementiza and Dr. Romulo Cepedoza, representing the Liga ng mga Barangay provincial federation.
Board Member Vierna Mae Boniel-Maglasang, Dr. Elpidio Bonita, Aldner Damalerio and Arcamo voted in the negative.
Visibly absent were SK federation president Victor Bolos, BM Lucille Lagunay, who was on official business and BM Atty. Jiselle Villamor who is on maternal leave, according to the SP source.
In objecting to the committee’s report, Arcamo cited the case of J. Tobias M. Javier versus Rhodora J. Cadiao, et. Al, of the Supreme Court, G. R. No. 185369.
In the case, Arcamo said that the vice-governor is considered part of the SP for purposes of determining the quorum but he is not be counted in the determination of the majority. The vice-governor can vote in case of a tie.
It will be recalled that the votes of the Sangguniang Bayan of Calape town overriding the veto of the municipal mayor on Municipal Ordinance No. 2022-09 fell short of the required number.
Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Handel Lagunay told the Municipal Ordinance review committee meeting presided over by Board Member Gloria Gementiza that the SB overriding vote constitute 7.33 persons.
He said that based on the opinion of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) any fraction of the number, like 7.33, must be rounded to a whole, this case, eight (8). This figure (8) considers the vice-mayor as member of the SB.
Those who voted affirmative of the said Municipal Ordinance are all political opponents of incumbent Mayor Atty. Julius Caesar F. Herrera. They are Vice-Mayor Dr. Sulpicio N. Yu, Jr., councilors Joyce M. Josol, Maria Aileen D. Veloso, Ma. Leonora G. Rulona, Jeanie L. Verano, Bella C. Ancog, Sangguniang Kabataan ex-officio John Theo G. Labajo, and Liga ng Baranya ex-officio Madelone Y. Rengel, a relative of the vice-mayor.
Those who objected the said Ordinance are allies of the mayor: Councilors Atty. Roldan O. Damalerio, Teodoro M. Ruizol and Ma. Desiree O. Zulueta.
Vice-Mayor Yu and SB secretary Gervacio U. Cucharo attested and certified, respectively, the said Ordinance No. 2022-09.
Committee member Dr. Romulo G. Cepedoza raised the issue of number required saying that the Calape SB Internal Rules of Procedure (IRP) says otherwise, or the required quorum needed.
Lagunay said that is as far as the quorum is concerned but the issue at hand is the number needed for vote to override the mayor’s veto.
The Calape SB’s IRP is passed via a Resolution which may contradict to the supposed Ordinance to be enacted for the internal rules passed by the legislative body.
In vetoing, Herrera said in his letter to the SB said that the Ordinance in questioned is “ultra vires nowhere in the Republic Act No. 7160, the Local Government Code of 1991can a vice-mayor be authorized by the Sangguniang Bayan even by an ordinance to sign contracts for and in behalf of the municipality.”
In its Resolution No. 2022-09, SB said that the said Ordinance is not ultra vires pursuant to section 445 (a)(5) of the Local Government Code of 1991.
“The vice-mayor shall exercise such other powers and perform such other duties and functions as may be prescribed by law or ordinance,” the Resolution said. (rvo)
