THE Cortes and Ruiz camps will work on a written agreement that will help them work together in repairing R. Colina St., Mandaue City where tension erupted yesterday.
A day after Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes stopped the road rehabilitation project, representatives from the two camps nearly traded blows at the project site, after Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz ordered that the work resume.
Lawyer Gonzalo Malig-on, Ruiz’s chief of staff, said the specifics of the agreement will need to be discussed and he will meet with the mayor’s advisers today.
City Administrator Briccio Boholst pointed out the Local Government Code empowers the mayor to supervise and control all programs of the city.
But Regional Legal Chief Agustinito Hermoso of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), in a press conference before the confrontation, said only the Supreme Court (SC) can stop a national project, like that on R. Colina.
Boholst and Malig-on nearly came to blows when they argued at the project site early yesterday afternoon.
The proposal for a joint undertaking eased the tension.
But a joint undertaking will not stop the mayor from seeking the assistance of the Office of the Ombudsman -Visayas to resolve the conflict, Boholst said.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Lani-o Nerez told Sun.Star Cebu he will ask Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) Chief Orlando Ualat to submit a report on the incident.
Nerez was in Manila when interviewed and said he will look into the matter once he arrives in Cebu. Asked about a report that there was a move to relieve Ualat from his post, Nerez said there is none.
Last Tuesday, the mayor stopped a private contractor’s work on a 75-meter stretch of R. Colina St., saying City Hall already planned to pave the area and fix its drainage.
The mayor went to the site with other city officials and a police team.
Soon-Ruiz, in a press conference at noon yesterday, vowed to continue the P500,000 project.
After the press conference, Ruiz, DPWH officials, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna and City Councilors Editha Cabahug and Emil Rosal went to the project site.
Upon the congresswoman’s arrival, work resumed on the street. A backhoe started breaking and scraping the asphalt road, while a police Swat team led by SPO1 Ildefonso Rosales removed the yellow off-limits cordon put up a day earlier.
Moments after the Swat operatives left, Boholst arrived and again ordered the workers to stop.
That’s when the argument began.
Boholst said he was there to assert the mayor’s authority, based on Section 455 of the Local Government Code of 1991.
He said the City’s officials might be held liable for dereliction of duty if they fail to assert their authority.
The section also states that nationally funded construction or repair of roads should be done “in coordination with the construction and repair of the roads and bridges of the city.”
Malig-on, however, said only the Supreme Court can stop a national project.
Congresswoman Soon-Ruiz showed during the press conference Councilor Rosal’s committee report that recommended the refusal of the mayor’s request for P2 million for the R. Colina project.
It was supposed to be included in the city’s second supplemental budget for 2009.
Ruiz also showed her letter, dated Oct. 8, offering Cortes a list of her projects for the city, which included R. Colina.
R. Colina, which is not newly asphalted contrary to an earlier report, was named after former Mandaue municipal councilor Restituto Colina, who once lived in the area.
The street used to be called Libertad St.
But informing and coordinating are two different things, said Boholst.
City Engineer Antonio Sanchez, who also went to the site yesterday, said he disapproved Engineer Marlon Montejo’s Nov. 26, 2009 request for a permit to start working on R. Colina St/, “because the City has a project in that area.”
Renault Ricardo of the DPWH Construction Section said he knew about the disapproval, which was why the start of road rehabilitation was moved from Oct. 28 to Jan. 5.
He said the agency decided to go on with the project upon prodding from Congresswoman Soon-Ruiz’s office.
Now that they have been ordered to stop, he said they will just wait until the “air is cleared” so they can resume working.
As the tension eased, the congresswoman embraced Atty. Eutiquio Sanchez, who is one of the mayor’s trusted men, and Atty. Boholst shook Atty. Malig-on’s hand.
Police Chief Ualat said he decided to remove the cordon when he learned that a dialogue will take place, but stressed he was there to maintain peace and is not siding with any group.