Thursday, September 28, 2006 Macias bars recon motion in long and stormy debate By Jeanette P. MAlinao Sun.Star Staff Reporter
QUEZON CITY—Once again, Oriental Negros Rep. Emilio Macias Jr. has come to the rescue of three Cebuano lawmakers out to convert their turfs into new provinces.
Macias blocked yesterday the motion for reconsideration against the approval, at the level of the House committee on local governments, of the bills to create Cebu del Sur, Cebu del Norte and Cebu Occidental.
As committee chairman, Macias has successfully blocked calls to hold a public hearing on the bills in Cebu.
Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar, Rep. Eduardo Gullas and Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco failed to sway Macias on the motion for reconsideration, even after an insistent lobby.
Macias declared the motion was “insufficient in form and substance” and was not filed on time.
Opposition from the Cebuano representatives who wanted to prove him wrong led to a heated and lengthy debate that ended with no resolution.
If the House committee on rules decides so, the bills will be sent to the plenary for debates. Congress, however, is scheduled to adjourn this session on Oct. 14 and will take a recess until Nov. 6.
Those against the bills plan to ask that the rules committee continue with its decision not to tackle the bills in the plenary, unless the motion for reconsideration is resolved.
“Aw, basta masangit gyud ni (This is going to get snagged),” Cuenco later told reporters. Del Mar, for his part, said of the creation of more provinces: “It will not happen. It will never happen.”
No discussion
Cuenco also told reporters that Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. promised to block the bills, should these ever reach the Senate.
At one point, Cuenco moved to resume the discussion when majority of members are present, but Rep. Clavel Martinez, author of the Cebu del Norte proposal, moved for adjournment when Macias said he was already tired.
Macias, a former governor of Oriental Negros, stressed they were not there to tackle the bills nor the motion for reconsideration.
For him, he was only there to explain that his committee no longer had jurisdiction over the matter because it was already forwarded to the House committee on rules.
But according to the other Cebuano lawmakers, the committee on rules did not calendar the bills for plenary yet, because the motion for reconsideration has yet to be resolved.
Macias insisted on his stand, citing a conversation and agreement that he had with the majority floor leader.
‘Fatal’
The Cebuano lawmakers stood their ground, citing the minutes of the committee on rules.
“I am not going to consider the motion for reconsideration today, that opportunity has long gone. We have no more jurisdiction. If we will talk, it will be bloody and will not produce anything anymore,” said Macias.
When opponents of the bills pressed for discussion, Cuenco pointed out Section 30 of their rules, which prohibits authors from voting in the committee handling their bills.
With that, three will have to be subtracted from the seven of 13 votes that the bills got from the committee, so four would no longer be majority.
The committee’s approval, therefore, was not valid, said Cuenco.
Cuenco also again cited that there is no petition from the affected towns; the Cebu Archdiocese’s survey showing 90 percent object to the bills; and that the committee has not lost jurisdiction because the motion was filed one week before the deadline.
Macias, however, only said the “defects” in the motion for reconsideration were “fatal.”
‘Dictator’
He observed that Rep. Crispin Remulla, the only one allowed to ask for reconsideration under the rules, was not the first to sign. Macias asked whether the signatures of Cuenco, del Mar and Gullas on top were “intended to intimidate the committee.”
Macias also accused Cuenco of “false representation” for making it appear that he is a member of the committee, but Cuenco said Macias was “lying” because he (Cuenco) is a deputized member.
Their last point of argument was whether the motion was filed on time.
A confrontation ensued after Cuenco lashed at Macias for being a “dictator.”
Congressman Macias, before blowing his top, said: “Believe me, I was trying to help the two Cebuano groups... I’ve always been trying to be in the middle. You are all friends of mine.”
