CEBU, Philippines - The councilors who belong to the minority bloc in Talisay City yesterday cried foul over the administration councilors' propensity to insert proposed measures on the day the session is held, which they claim violates a certain house rule.
Councilor Romeo Villarante, one of the three minority councilors in the city council, said he was shocked when he learned in their regular session yesterday morning when presiding officer and Vice Mayor Alan Bucao filed his amendments to the ordinance creating the City of Talisay-Traffic Operations and Development Authority (CT-TODA).
Bucao is the CT-TODA chairman.
"We should be given ample time to review, read and study the resolutions submitted so that there will be no surprises next time," Villarante said.
Villarante, who is also a practicing lawyer, said that they, in the minority, "have to review" all ordinances and resolutions "kung wa bay discrepancy."
There were five insertions in the session yesterday, all of which, one was Bucao's amendment, were authored by the administration councilors, which the minority councilors believed is one of the tactics to catch them off guard.
For his part, Councilor Danny Caballero, one of the big three in the minority the other is Councilor Val Ylanan, said that in their house rules, all proposals to be tackled on the next session must be submitted on or before 12:00 p.m. of Friday to be calendared for the next session so as to allow all councilors to study all these to better prepare themselves during the session, he said.
"Nihangyo lang mi nga mo-stick ta sa rules," said Villarante.
This was however noted by Bucao during the session.
Caballero's two proposed resolutions, one encouraging parents to teach their children to segregate their garbage and the other one supporting the Department of Education's aim to plant 60 million trees in Central Visayas, were all referred to the committees on Environment and Education.
Both resolutions were calendared for yesterday's order of business.
Meanwhile, Bucao's inserted amendments to the CT-TODA ordinance was approved without a glitch.
"Nindot unta akong mga resolutions pero kutikutihon man gyud nila," Caballero said.
In the new amended CT-TODA ordinance, it was recommended that the mayor create new positions and appoint "team leaders" each for the traffic division, terminal management, franchise evaluation, renewal and traffic engineering.
Each of these positions entails another cost to the city government. – (FREEMAN)