Most City Hall execs on leave

CEBU, Philippines — Most of the elected Cebu City officials in are out of the country and left City Hall with councilors Donaldo Hontiveros and Nestor Archival taking charge for the rest of the week.

Hontiveros has been designated as the acting mayor since yesterday until March 7, as indicated in the memorandum from the Office of Mayor Michael Rama.

Rama is on a personal trip to Hong Kong.

“As such, and pursuant to the rules of succession as provided for under the Local Government Code of 1991 and relevant jurisprudence on this matter, you are mandated to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the City Mayor, in a temporary capacity, effective upon receipt hereof,” part of the memo obtained by The Freeman reads.

Earlier, Rama said he is taking his family to a long-overdue vacation that has been postponed last Christmas season.

Although on vacation, Rama said he will be taking with him some important documents for review, especially on the re-organization at the City Hall soon.

A separate memo from the Department of Interior and Local Government(DILG), on the other hand, designated Archival as the acting vice mayor since Vice Mayor Raymond Garcia is on an official trip to Israel since last February 25 until March 4.

It might, however, be a slow week for Archival since no session has been scheduled today, considering that the majority bloc members of the council are also out of town.

It is not clear, however, whether all of the councilors are with Garcia. But one of the councilors who refused to be named said they are on a “study tour”.

Archival said aside from him and Hontiveros, his fellow councilors in the minority bloc are just here, including ABC president Franklyn Ong, SK Federation president Jessica Resch, and councilors Mary Ann delos Santos and Joy Young.

Councilor Jun Alcover reportedly just in the city as well. – JMD (FREEMAN)