Wednesday, April 02, 2008 You can speak up on MCIAA charter amendments: Del Mar to Lapu execs
REP. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) rebuffed Lapu-Lapu City officials of their disappointment on the Congress’ failure to invite them during the first committee hearing of the proposed bill amending the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) Charter, saying it was more of crafting the bill.
The House transportation committee of Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella had only the airport manager Danilo Augusto Francia invited in the first committee hearing of the bill, an incident that City Councilor Alexander Gestopa admitted had dismayed some of his colleagues in the City Council.
But Del Mar, a committee member and author of the bill, assured that there’s nothing in the first hearing Lapu-Lapu officials should be disappointed about because they were only improving the provisions of the bill.
Representatives
He said that in the second hearing, which is probably two weeks from the time Congress resumes on April 21, all the parties, including a representative from the Provincial Government, will be called to attend.
“In the second hearing we will invite Mayor (Arturo) Radaza, the airport manager and maybe we will include the governor or her designated representative,” he said.
Lapu-Lapu City begun asserting its right for a seat at the MCIAA board and the transfer of the governor’s authority to recommend the appointment of four representatives from the private sector after achieving the highly urbanized city status in a referendum July last year.
The City Council adopted en masse a resolution last August asking President Arroyo to certify a priority bill that mandates Mayor Radaza’s inclusion into the board, including but not limited to an authority to recommend the appointment of more members from the private sector.
Del Mar said it will be up to Francia and Radaza to bring some people with them during the second committee hearing of his bill.
Republic Act 6958 creating the MCIAA Charter was enacted in 1990. Political rivalry between former Cebu governor Emilio ‘Lito’ Osmena and the late Mayor Maximo Patalinjug was partly blamed of the city’s exclusion from the MCIAA board. (AIV)
