Bars vice mayor from 'arguing' with regular members
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| The Batac City council (file photo) |
By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff Reporter
Batac
City—Seven members of the Sangguniang
Panlungsod here voted to amend portions of their internal rules of procedures.
The amendment specifically emphasizes that the vice mayor is not a regular
member and thus cannot relinquish the chair to participate in the deliberation.
The amended resolution stated
that, “The vice mayor is not a regular member nor an ex-officio member of the
Sanggunian. He or she is only a composite member, therefore, he cannot
relinquish the Chair in order to participate in the deliberation of the Body”.
The amendment resolution was
passed on their May 27 regular session presided by Batac councilor Winet
Quidang.
Batac councilor Violeta
Daradar Nalupta, sponsor of the measure, deleted her earlier proposal to
include a “pro tempore” to act as presiding officer to avoid any gap between
the presiding officer and the body. Instead of this, they will now follow the
existing rules to vote among them on who would preside in the absence of the
vice mayor.
In her explanatory note, Ms.
Nalupta said the vice mayor does not have a dual personality in the Sanggunian
as he was not elected by his peers to become a presiding officer; he is not
among the regular members who was elected by his colleague to become the
presiding officer; and he became the presiding officer only by operation of
law.
She added that in
parliamentary rules, only those members with equal footing can argue with each
other.
Ms. Nalupta also
stressed that the vice mayor as a
department head is not on the same level as the constituent members of the
Sanggunian, thus, he or she should refrain from arguing with the constituent
members by participating in the deliberation.
However, she said that the
vice mayor is not precluded from introducing any kind of legislative measure
whether a resolution or an ordinance provided that he/she ask one of the
regular members to sponsor; or the vice mayor could refer it to the concerned
committee for study and eventually for sponsorship during the first reading
stage.
To sum it up, Ms. Nalupta’s
stated that the primary duty of the vice mayor in his capacity as the presiding
officer is to preside over the session and vote in case of a tie.
During the deliberation, Batac
Liga ng mga Barangay president and ex-officio councilor Johann Nalupta expressed
fear that this might affect their participation in local legislative awards. He
added that they used the existing internal rules of procedures when they won
the regional award.
Ms. Nalupta replied that she
believes the amendment is more advantageous now because it indicates that they
have a more complete rules which were based in the local legislation.
Ms. Nalupta later asked all
those who voted for the measure to become co-sponsors.
Vice mayor reacts
BEING the acting mayor when
this measure was approved, Batac vice mayor Ronald Allan M. Nalupta voiced his
disagreement to the amendments made.
“Kasla arig na intali da ti
ima kun, appo. Dagitoy pito a nagbotos a kokonsehales tayo…,”the vice mayor
said.
Mr. Nalupta was referring to
the amendment which bars him from sponsoring a measure and defending it in
their deliberations.
He added that he has two
ordinances filed for discussion soon and he is now asking who would defend them
now.
Speaking about the amended internal
rules of procedures, he said: “Inaal-lilaw dayta, appo, ta nanipud idi 1998
konsehal nakun, awan pay iti napaspasamak a kasdiay ta umuna unay, kontra iti
paglintegan dayta a mabalin nga agdependar iti maysa a saan a naikabil nga author wennu sponsor, main wennu co-author man. Su a niloloko dagidiay a
sungbat, appo,” Nalupta stressed.
“Para toy numo toy biang a
ket palso daytoy inaramid da, appo. Diak ammu no apay a tatta pay a kaawanko
ken ni konsehal Bobot Crisostomo nga inaramid da daytoy haan nga umno ken husto
ken palso nga ar-aramid da,” the vice mayor added.
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