At the time of the final voting, statistics was 5-5 with one "inhibition".
The opinion of Nilo Alejandrino, Council secretary, was sought by Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, and Alejandrino said the basic number requirement of a majority vote with only 11 present is six.
In a wave of the "magic wand," Sayson ruled there was a tie and broke it in favor of STL operations in Bacolod.
Legal minds around the City interpreted the five-five voting as "dead resolution" as this falls below the minimum requirement of six, in a session where 11 council members attended.
The second instance was in Wednesday's session on the Bredco Takeover Ordinance.
Twelve council members attended and the voting statistics was six affirmative, five negative, and one abstention.
Vice Mayor Sayson banged the gavel, ruling the majority of six won but eventually realizing that procedures were violated.
The one abstention should have been counted as a negative, and so makes the voting result a six-six.
Again, with 12 members present, majority basic requirement should be seven but Sayson waved "the wand" and declared a tie, broke it again by favoring the takeover rather than declaring the "death" of the ordinance.
In the second instance, the majority rule was violated and the previous ruling was reverted by the vice mayor without the benefit of a question from the floor.
Sayson opened two "Pandora's boxes" in the second instance. These are the violations of the majority rule and reversion of his ruling.
