THE Cebu Provincial Board needs nine votes to achieve the simple majority to give Gov. Hilario Davide III the authority to enter into a contract with WT Construction for the construction of the P20-story building inside the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
This was the opinion relayed by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 Director Leocadio Trovela to SunStar Cebu.
Records showed that when the board members put into voting the proposed measure, eight voted yes, six voted no and three abstained.
“What is needed here is nine votes to achieve the simple majority. Because it lacks one vote, then the measure is not considered passed,” Trovela said.
Those who voted “Yes” are allies of Davide. They are Board Members Celestino Martinez III, Jerome Christian Librando, Jose Mari Salvador, Horacio Franco, Miguel Antonio Magpale, Jude Thaddeus Durano Sybico, Earl Tidy Oyas and Jericho Rubio.
Those who voted “No” are members of PDP-Laban, the political party of President Rodrigo Duterte and Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia, who is running for governor in the May 2019 polls. They are Board Members Raul Bacaltos, Edcel Galeos, Victoria Corominas Toribio, Alex Binghay, Yolanda Daan and Sun Shimura.
Had those who abstained, namely Board Members Jonkie Ouano, Glenn Bercede and Christopher Baricuatro, voted “No,” as they are all members of the PDP-Laban, Davide could have been stripped of his authority, another board member said.
Bacaltos said when the proposal to defer the measure was put to a vote, he abstained. Eight voted “Yes” and seven against the deferment, prompting Magpale to vote, making the result eight in favor and eight against.
Bacaltos said they discussed again the main proposal whether to give authority to Davide or not, and the result was eight for yes, six for no, and three abstained.
This prompted the Board’s leadership to seek the opinion of the DILG whether the result of the voting in the main measure was valid or not.
In a special session called on Wednesday, Dec. 19, only eight Provincial Board members were present.
The session was postponed due to a lack of quorum. Those present were Bacaltos, Librando, Salvador, Magpale, Oyas, Martinez, Sybico and Rubio.
Absent were Toribio, Ouano, Bercede, Baricuatro, Shimura, Franco, Galeos, Joven Mondigo Jr. and Yolanda Daan.
Bacaltos said he recognizes the need to construct another building, but he voted against it. He did not explain why.
Salvador, for his part, said, there is a need to build another building because of the growing population.
Both Bacaltos and Salvador said constructing another building outside the Capitol compound will be the governor’s option.
Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Legal Officer Orvi Ortega said the proposed 20-story Capitol Resource Center is separate from the existing Capitol building which was declared a national landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), hence, there is no violation.
Ortega said Section 48, paragraph B of Republic Act 10066 provides two circumstances wherein NHCP permission is required. First, is if there is any modification, alteration or anything that will change the original state of the landmark. Second, is if any work includes the design and security for buffer zone, extending five meters from the visible perimeters of the site (landmark).
Ortega said neither of the two circumstances is present in the provision of law because the future building will be 25 meters away from the national landmark. (EOB)