Tuba laments Charter veto

TUBA, Benguet -- The possible solutions to the boundary disputes between Baguio City and Tuba is now vague because of the rejection of the City Charter.

Tuba Mayor Florencio Bentres said the vetoed charter affects earlier talks with the city officials on the possible solution of their boundary disputes. He added one of the provisions under the charter is on solving the problem on boundary disputes.

However, after President Benigno Aquino III rejected the city charter, Domogan assured Bentres to seek for other alternatives to finally resolve the boundary problem.

Bentres, on the other hand, urged the proponent to review the reasons why the President vetoed the charter. “I believe the reason for that is the city alone, Tuba was not included. The reason I saw was that the city was allegedly going to sidestep the roles and functions of the other government agencies.”

The local chief executive believes the vetoing of the President for the whole charter is not a hindrance. The proponent can still revise the charter for its further improvement.

On January 17, Aquino rejected to sign House Bill (HB) 3759), which is the Act Revising the Charter of Baguio City. He informed the members of the House of Representatives about his decision in returning the proposed bill without signing it. He fully vetoed the bill.

Among the reasons he provided are the powers of under the bill are covered under the local government code; the bill intrudes the functions of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and some provisions are ambiguous.

The bill was filed by Domogan during his term as the city’s representative and it was again filed in the House of Representatives by current Congressman Bernardo Vergara.