Batac council amends internal rules

Bars vice mayor from 'arguing' with regular members

 

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.