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Thursday, February 05, 2004
Ynzon: Adjournment against City Council house rules
By Fred P. Macaraeg
SAN CARLOS CITY -– IT WAS against City Council house rules.
Majority of the members of the City Council here said Wednesday the adjournment of Monday’s session called for by Vice Mayor Ansberto “Harry” Cagampan was illegal.
Councilor Mienrado Ynzon cited Section 5 of the house rules on suspension and adjournment.
The rule states that sessions of the Council should not be suspended or adjourned, except by direction of the City Council itself, although the presiding officer may, in his own discretion, declare a recess.
So the councilors, said Councilor Elpidio Fermin, reconvened and the body elected Ynzon as presiding officer after Cagampan, together with Councilors Diego de Guzman and Asterio Queñano, went out of the session hall.
“There was an objection to the motion for adjournment but the vice mayor did not heed it,” Ynzon said.
De Guzman moved for the adjournment of the session and Queñano seconded the motion.
Contrary to the claim of the opposition bloc that the proposed measure had only been filed at about 3 p.m. that day when the session was supposed to start 2 p.m., Ynzon said the measure was filed on Thursday of the previous week and received by the council’s assistant secretary, Ed Ramos. But Ramos got sick and failed to schedule the measure as originally planned.
He said the councilors from the majority bloc at the City Council were trying to explain it but the vice mayor did not pay attention to their explanation but instead only listened to the two opposition councilors.
Citing one of the house rules, de Guzman and Queñano said the proposed measure was supposed to be filed two days before session day to give the council members enough time to study it.
But Ynzon said Fermin, author of the measure, submitted it to the assistant secretary, who was absent.
He pointed out that they failed to coordinate with the City Council secretariat the following day because Mayor Julian V. Resuello delivered the state-of-the-city address and “we were tired and the succeeding days were holidays.”
Ynzon even said they had already prepared the agenda for the session but the assistant secretary was absent.
“So, we were asking the secretary what would be taken up that day although, all along, we already had in our mind one agendum,” he said.
Meanwhile, de Guzman said they did not stage a walkout.
De Guzman pointed out that they went out of the session hall after Vice Mayor Cagampan adjourned the Monday session following his motion for its adjournment, which was seconded by Queñano.
He said the city legislature’s secretariat informed them before the commencement of session at 2 p.m. that there would no be assembly because no agenda was scheduled that day.
“But at about 5 p.m., we were told that there would be a session so it was convened,” he said.
De Guzman said at the start of the session, he raised a point of order because of a house rule that says that any proposed legislative measure should be filed before the secretariat two days before the session.
The secretariat will then inform the members of the body on what is to be discussed on the floor.
But on that situation, “the proposed ordinance was filed only at about 3 p.m.”
“That is why when we were already there, we were not yet provided with a copy of the proposed ordinance,” he said.
The councilor said he asked why the opposition members were not given time to review and study the proposed measure the majority was filing.
“It is the prerogative of the vice-mayor as presiding officer to decide on the point of order that I raised. So the vice-mayor said that we could not discuss the proposed measure filed only at three o’clock because it is not in accordance with our house rule,” he said.
De Guzman refuted Ynzon’s earlier disclosure that the proposed ordinance had already been filed on Thursday but the problem was that the assistant secretary was absent.
He said it is in the minutes of the meeting that Aaron Soriano, legislature secretary, affirmed that the proposed measure was filed only at 3 p.m. Monday.
Ynzon said members of the opposition only think of ways to oppose measures proposed by the majority bloc and not study the proposed ordinances.
De Guzman said the body should either follow the house rules or discard it.
“Since it is the majority floor leader who is scheduling businesses for a day, then ask him why he was late in filing the measure,” he said.
Denying that there was heated argument between the majority and the opposition councilors during the session, de Guzman said they were only discussing parliamentary procedures.
He further said the reconvening of the body by the majority was illegal because “we are supposed to hold one session a day.”
The proposed measure is the reclassification of a certain lot at the back of the Central II Elementary School.
De Guzman said the measure had already been passed two weeks ago but the majority committed a mistake so they made an amendment.
He admitted that he was involved in the reclassification of the lot when it was first passed.
“So we need to study the amendatory provisions and should be given enough time,” he said.
(February 5, 2004 issue)
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