Thursday, July 17, 2008 Cortes to work on reopening communication with Fortuna
MANDAUE City Mayor Jonas Cortes yesterday pledged to reopen communication with Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna and ignore criticisms by opposition councilor Victor Biaño.
Cortes also said he will reply to the letter from the Office of the President asking him to answer the complaint of Biaño and five other councilors.
The complaint accused him of dishonesty, oppression, misconduct in office, abuse of authority and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Cortes said he will spend the remaining years of his first term serving the city rather than answering Biaño’s allegations.
Cortes said he is happy to reopen communication with Fortuna, who was not one of those who complained to Malacañang. He said they had a talk last Friday and yesterday morning on issues concerning the city.
“Wa mi maghisgot og pulitika (We did not discuss politics),” Cortes told Sun.Star Cebu. He said he is hoping the open communication they started will continue.
Regarding Biaño, Cortes said he refuses to spend time countering his allegations.
“Di ko ganahan mag-sige og pamolitica, sayo pa para ana (It’s still too early to engage in politicking),” Cortes said.
He said Biaño and his group have been blocking his projects and initiatives since the start of his term.
He also expressed surprise with Biaño’s move to go to Malacañang after asking Ombudsman Director Virginia Palanca-Santiago several months back to intervene in their difference.
He said he suspected that Biaño feels that Santiago is biased, which he said is not the case.
The six councilors filed a complaint against Cortes over two executive orders that, they say, contradict provisions of the City’s appropriation ordinance and other provisions of the law.
Councilors Biaño, Alfonso Albaño Jr., Ma. Noeleen Borbajo, Procopio Villanueva, Editha Cabahug and Emiliano Rosal filed their complaint before the Office of the President.
Biaño’s complaint focused on Executive Order 13, which ordered all finance officials to disregard and set aside a provision of the budget ordinance requiring an enabling resolution in disbursing funds from lump sum appropriations.
Cortes said yesterday that requiring an enabling resolution is already beyond the City Council’s powers. He said the duty of the council is to approve or disapprove an appropriation ordinance. Once an appropriation is approved, the mayor no longer needs the council’s permission to disburse funds, Cortes said.
Biaño also accused Cortes of deliberately misquoting Section 77 of the Local Government Code by stating that the hiring of job-order workers must be authorized by the Civil Service Commission. (OCP)
