Sanchez threatens legal action over interference in PB newsletter

CEBU, Philippines - Another conflict arose between the camps of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Vice Governor Gregorio Sanchez after the Office of the Provincial Attorney refused to approve the purchase request for the printing of the legislative branch’s newsletter for August.

The Legislative Gavel, the monthly newsletter of the legislative department, will reportedly lose half of its circulation without the purchase request. Sanchez said the newsletter has a circulation of at least 5,000 and up to P10,000, but the same will be slashed down to 3,000 copies. 

Sanchez added that the newsletter’s budget is taken from the 2010 annual budget, which also covers the honoraria for the staff that remains frozen. It was reportedly Garcia who ordered to stop the funding for the Legislative Gavel.

Sanchez said he will not hesitate to resort to legal action should Garcia continue to interfere with the newsletter.

“Dili na lang unta samukon kay wa mi maghasol niya nga bisan iyang Sugbo daghan kaayo og staff (members). Ambot sige og gi-harass ang legislative body, tagaan unta niya og respeto. Nagpakita lang siya sa iyang pagka-diktador,” Sanchez said.

Capitol spokesperson Rory Jon Sepulveda said the Legislative Gavel is a duplication of the Sugbo newspaper, the official publication of the Office of the Governor.

Sepulveda said there is one official news organ, the Sugbo, since there is only one governor in the province.

But Sanchez argued that the governor’s office is different from that of the vice governor.

“We are separate in exercising our powers. We also have functions without the interference of the other and that she should show independence of The Legislative Gavel, which belongs to the legislative department,” Sanchez said.

The Legislative Gavel, which started publication in 2005, is run by five staff members. It features stories about ordinances and resolutions passed by the Provincial Board, as well as livelihood programs and activities of the legislative body.

In a separate statement, Legislative Gavel’s editor-in-chief, Ferliza Contratista, said the newsletter will continue publication despite the non-approval of the purchase request.

“We will continue its publication despite the refusal of Atty. Martinguilla to sign its purchase request for the month of August. First, the notice for us to stop publishing should come from the office of the vice governor, the sole office responsible for our existence and whose funds are paying for its publication. Second, we are not a duplication of the Sugbo magazine of the office of the governor for a very apparent reason - Sugbo focuses mostly on the governor’s affairs and activities,” Contratista said.

“Sugbo is executive while Gavel is legislative just like the Senate and House of Representatives that both maintain newsletters and publications separate from that of the Office of the President,” she added. –THE FREEMAN