Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Talisay dads argue as to who should preside over session
OPPOSITION Talisay City Councilor Alan Bucao is questioning the legality of the City Council’s regular session last Tuesday presided over by Councilor Shirley Belleza.
Belleza, the majority floor leader, took over as temporary presiding officer after Bucao and Councilor Serrie Restauro, the council’s first and second ranking legislators, respectively, refused to take the chair.
Bucao said an election would have been held before Belleza, the majority floor leader, took on the vice mayor’s chair.
Vice Mayor Lani Abarquez could not preside over the session as she has been acting as the City’s chief executive in the absence of Mayor Socrates Fernandez, who is on a week-long pilgrimage in Israel.
“I’m questioning the session because proper procedure has not been followed. She (Belleza) took the chair without holding an election,” Bucao said.
Belleza told Sun.Star Cebu earlier that if the presiding officer is unavailable, the majority floor leader shall temporarily act as one.
Legislators
She said this is explicitly stated in Section 1, Rules 2 and 3 of the internal house rules of the 3rd City Council.
Belleza added that she formally asked Bucao and Restauro to preside over the session but the two legislators had declined.
“It was already beyond 9 a.m., so I took the floor being the majority floor leader,” she earlier said.
The council’s regular session is held every Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Meanwhile, Bucao also questioned the holding of the special session last week, a day after he adjourned the session for lack of quorum.
Bucao was the presiding chairman when all the majority bloc councilors failed to come on time at the session hall as they held a caucus at the mayor’s office.
Seeing none of his fellow legislators, Bucao banged the gavel at 9:25 a.m.
Upon learning of Bucao’s decision, Fernandez then issued a memorandum calling on the councilor to hold a special session the next day.
But Bucao considered the special session as improper because the mayor’s notice came less than 24 hours, adding that he received it in the afternoon.
As provided by law, Bucao, a former vice mayor, said a notice should have been sent at least 24 hours before the scheduled special session.
Also, Bucao said the special session should have taken only one important subject as specified on the issued notice.
He observed that the special meeting became instead a regular session because all the previous day agenda were tackled upon by the SP. (GC)
