BOPK, Barug not seeking DILG’s opinion on impasse

CEBU, Philippines — After the two-day controversial session of the Cebu City Council, both Barug Team Rama PDP Laban and Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) councilors are not planning to seek the opinion of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on the validity of the approval of the two contested resolutions.

Majority floor leader Margarita “Margot” Osmeña, who is allied with BOPK, told reporters that the party has not talked about it as of the moment.

“Sila nalang ang mag-seek…We haven’t thought, we haven’t discussed it.  As far as we are concerned, it was proper, it was legal,” she said yesterday.

Last Wednesday, BOPK councilors resumed the session when the presiding officer, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and eight of his allied councilors, left the hall last Wednesday, which paved for the approval of the two resolutions.

The two resolutions were to grant Mayor Tomas Osmeña to sign and enter into a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI) for an P18-billion project at SRP and another is for the special use application for a Central Material Facility and landfill in Barangay Binaliw.

But Osmeña’s ally, councilor David Tumulak part, council’s pro tempore, said they may possibly ask the legal opinion of DILG in order to give clarification on the issue.

“Yes, mao na atong padulngan nga mokuan ta. It’s up to the minority and majority, ang korte raman gyud ang maka-decide. Will just wait kay para nako, ang nahitabo during that session, I’ve never heard nga niingon nga adjourn. I heard there was a bang of the gavel,” he said.

Tumulak said it’s up to their legal luminaries whether or not to ask DILG’s opinion on the matter.

In separate interview, opposition Councilor Joel Garganera said they are not going to seek for the DILG’s opinion because they stood firm on their earlier stand that the session was in fact adjourned before they left. That is why the approval of two resolutions is invalid.

“The best evidence is the acting secretary says that there was an adjournment that there are only two issues at that time. There’s nothing to discuss, so it was properly seconded. We will not be going to ask DILG because we are standing on solid ground and it’s the truth,” he said.

Last Thursday, city acting secretariat Roy Vincent Alix said records and stenographic notes indicate that there was really an adjournment of the session before Labella’s camp left the session hall.

The two local camps have conflicting stand on the recent session wherein councilors allied with the present administration believes that the approval of the two resolutions was valid because the session was not officially ended before Labella and eight councilors left the hall.

Labella, however, believed that the session was in fact adjourned because it was moved by Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia and duly seconded by Councilor Joel Garganera.

For her part, Osmeña said the notes of the secretariat is not a “fact” because the latter is only doing his job which is to document and to put on record what is happening in the session.

“He’s not saying that it is what he has there is not a matter of fact, it’s what he heard. That’s his job to write down what is said. And we don’t fault him for that. He is in a stressful situation and we don’t want to stress him, he is just doing his job,” she said.

Osmeña lauded Alix for staying in the session despite the chaotic situation last Wednesday night.

As of press time, DILG-Cebu City Director Emma Joyevelyn Calvo prefered not to comment and will wait for the city officials’ query about the matter so that their regional legal officer will answer it. — GAN (FREEMAN)