JOY Maredith Madayag, director of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Bacolod, confirmed on Friday, that she already forwarded the request for an opinion of Councilor Ricardo Tan to the DILG in Western Visayas in Iloilo City.
Madayag said she received the letter on Wednesday and it was forwarded to the DILG-Western Visayas.
She said the letter, addressed to DILG-Director Anthony Nuyda, will be referred to the DILG legal office.
“We will wait for the final answer of the DILG on Tan’s request,” he said.
Tan sought the assistance of DILG after he was disallowed to cast his vote on the approval of the city’s application loan with the Department of Finance (DOF)-Municipal Development Fund Office.
Tan said he is requesting for an opinion on the right of the City Council presiding officer who relinquished the chair to participate in the deliberation and cast his vote.
The City Council had earlier approved the request of Mayor Evelio Leonardia to authorize him to apply for a loan with DOF amounting to P1.7 billion to fund the city's flagship projects.
After the deliberation which was presided by Councilor Sonya Verdeflor, 10 councilors voted in favor of the loan.
Only Councilor Claudio Puentevella voted against it while Councilor Wilson Gamboa abstained.
At the start of the session, Tan was the presiding officer but he stepped down so he can cast his vote on the passage of the loan's resolution.
They nominated Verdeflor to take over his post as a temporary presiding officer.
Verdeflor disallowed Tan to cast his vote because he was the acting vice mayor and he’s only allowed to participate in the deliberation.
Tan said that for several times, he was designated as acting vice mayor and presiding officer of the City Council and was allowed to relinquish the chair, participate in the deliberations, make a motion and cast his vote for or against the issue being raised.
“But the usual practice was suddenly changed during July 11 regular session because the rest of the members did not allow me to cast my vote anymore,” he said.
Tan noted that under Resolution No. 09-16-594 Series of 2016 or the Revised Internal Rules of Proceedings of the City Council, Section 5 stated that nothing in this rules shall be construed to prevent the presiding officer, from making its own observation, comment, suggestion, or proposal on any subject matter or on any correspondence pending before the City Council.
He said in the parliamentary procedure (Robert’s Rules of Order), the presiding officer is allowed to relinquish the chair, and the chair is given to a member voted for that purpose, to temporarily preside over the meeting. The presiding officer who relinquished the chair is then allowed to participate in the discussion on the pending item being deliberated upon and cast his vote, whenever call for the purpose.
Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairperson of the City Council committee on laws, had earlier said that once you are a vice mayor, you are not allowed to vote unless there is a tie.