Vice mayor: Batac’s CCTV ordinance falsified

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff Reporter

Batac City—Batac Vice Mayor Ronald Allan M. Nalupta wants an investigation to trace who falsified the CCTV ordinance the council recently passed.

In his chairman’s time in a regular session, he said he discovered that the CCTV ordinance has be falsified by still unidentified persons as all the “whereas” provisions were replaced.

This ordinance should have been sent to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for review.

Nalupta said he was surprised to find out that the body of the CCTV ordinance, which was approved by the council, was already different from the ordinance that would be sent to the provincial board. He said all the “whereas” provisions were replaced.

What sad to note, he added, was that his signature—along with those of council secretary Gladys Lagura and Batac Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta—were already affixed on the document.

When the process for finalizing its transfer to the provincial board, Nalupta said he discovered the discrepancies.

He stressed that this is the first time he encountered a falsification of a public document ever since he became a public official in 1998.

In view of this, the vice mayor appointed Lagura and Batac Liga ng mga Barangay President Jack Nalupta to represent the council in investigating the matter.

After the council session, the appointed persons immediately convened and their recommendation would serve as a basis for the next move of the council.

Meanwhile, the CCTV ordinance was not transmitted to the provincial board pending the probe.

Nalupta also mentioned that he heard that there was an attempt to change the title of the CCTV ordinance but in his inspection of the tampered document only the mentioned provisions were changed.

The Batac CCTV ordinance was sponsored by councilor Orlando Mangapit who later suggested that all members of the council who voted for it become co-authors. Of the councilors who voted in favor, councilor Wynet Quidang refused to be named as co-author.

Quidang, though voting in favor of the measure, earlier questioned the ordinance saying 90 percent of it is similar to the CCTV ordinance of Laoag City.

To correct this, the vice mayor asked the main sponsor if he asked permission from the author of the Laoag CCTV ordinance, Laoag councilor Joseph H. Tamayo. Mangapit said he did not.

Tamayo, upon learning of the issue, said he was glad that Batac adopted his ordinance but he added that a footnote be incorporated saying it was copied from Laoag.

The Batac CCTV ordinance however was passed without any footnote or acknowledgement that it was adopted from Laoag’s own CCTV ordinance.

After the voting, Nalupta said that he will sign the ordinance in his capacity as council presiding officer but he will also write the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to express his objection on the ordinance.

The council presiding officer is not allowed to vote in the council unless there is a tie.

Nalupta has also offered his assistance to the Liga president for the formulation of another CCTV ordinance was this offer was either ignored or disregarded.

Nalupta has since expressed his shock that this ordinance has taken another controversial turn as it was falsified. He vowed to uncover the person or persons behind this.