CEBU Gov. Hilario Davide III seems to be going against his reputation of being cautious when he decided to withdraw his request for authority to enter into the P1.3 billion contract to build a 20-story office-commercial complex called Capitol Resource Center.
Not the typical Junjun Davide. Since the June 30, 2016 start of his second term, Junjun has stressed the requirement and value of securing Provincial Board approval of each contract the governor signs.
Junjun said he wouldn’t pay any contract entered into by his predecessor and not approved or ratified by the PB. Nobody has checked on which bills the governor refused to settle, whether he kept the public promise.
Public disclosure
The law (Republic Act 7160 or Local Government Code) requires the authorization. And the public appreciates wide and full disclosure. The PB, exercising its part in the decision-making, enables pooling of energy and wisdom and spreading of the blame.
Davide must have assumed a docile PB, which hadn’t given him serious problem for almost six years. But the 8-6-3 vote (one vote shy) in last December’s balloting killed the authority the governor wanted. After the long Christmas break, Junjun told the PB he didn’t need the authority after all and would like to withdraw his request.
Could he? Could one say, “Would you marry me,” then when rebuffed, say, “Forget I asked. I don’t need your consent”? Misplaced metaphor but the same drift of argument.
As Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said, the withdrawal was late. The PB already “owned” the request and acted on it.
SC guideline
Junjun Davide cited a Dec. 8, 2008 Supreme Court decision (GR# 17527), in which then PB members Quisumbing, Yapha and Corominas litigated with then governor Gwen Garcia over P102 million worth of contracts that were entered into without PB approval. Gwen cited the same argument that Davide now uses.
The SC guideline says that if the PB previously appropriated money for a project, naming it “in sufficient detail,” and all the chief executive has to do after the bidding is to execute the contract, then no additional legislative authorization is needed.
Not detailed enough
Davide said that in June last year, the PB appropriated P1.525 billion in a P1.9 billion supplemental budget for a “20-storey building in the Capitol compound.”
Is that “sufficient in detail”? Not detailed enough, to a public that wants and needs to know more, especially on a huge project that impacts on (a) capacity of Capitol to engage in business, (b) traffic in the city, and (c) heritage values.
But roughly using the SC standard, Davide and his lawyers may argue it is specific enough to identify the project. In Gwen’s Balili refilling deal, in contrast, the PB used a generic term, “economic development projects” or something.
Change of PB mind
In voting down Davide’s request. the PB in effect changed its mind about a project it had earlier given the go-signal by appropriating money for it and authorizing the bank loan. The lawmakers could say they did not foresee the obstacles.. But that would be less candid than admitting that shifts in political alliances have a lot to do with the vote.
However the turn of events is explained, Junjun appears now to be pushing and shoving the project, despite the legal and practical questions that assail it and the additional downside, the PB rejection.
Chance for review
The opposition may include voices from within Capitol itself, including that of running mate, aspirant for governor Magpale. Any court that might rule on a probable case over the issue will note and consider the PB sentiment.
Voters might ask for an explanation about the apparent haste. Shouldn’t the freshly mandated leaders, four or five months away, be given the chance to take a second look at the project?
But then this could also be Junjun’s time to show he could be as decisive and big risk-taker as any other politician.