DAVAO City Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag said that he will impose stricter City Council session rules in the wake of their failure to achieve quorum in the last two weeks and failure of some councilors to abide by session policies.
During the 18th City Council session Tuesday, February 26, 2019, only 15 city councilors were present.
However, in the middle of discussions on some ordinances, Councilor Bonifacio Militar requested to adjourn the session as he noticed some councilors have been going out which left the session hall with only 10 councilors.
“Actually, this has been happening for a long time na habang naga-discuss, naay uban na mugawas (while in the middle of discussions, some go outside),” Al-ag told reporters Tuesday.
“Sadly, for today, we were only 15. Igo-igo ra gyud ni-quorum. Kung nay mugawas isa, maundang among session. This is not good sa Council kasi we are all paid by the taxpayers’ money to attend session (Sadly, we are only 15 present today, just enough to achieve quorum. If someone will go outside, our session will be stopped and this is not good for the council because we are paid to attend the session),” he added.
During the council session, Militar expressed his dismay over the performance of some councilors.
“Some items require 23 votes and these are all classifications. This is the second week that we do not have a quorum. I will not be answerable to those applicants but the members of the council who are not present,” Militar said.
“We should be religiously attending our sessions, following our rules. If we fail to be magnanimous, it is not a good practice. It will later on be subject to abuses,” he added.
Meanwhile, Al-ag said that with the election season, councilors should even more show that they are committed in making laws and ordinances for the city.
“I am urging all the members of the Council to be present next session kay naa mi mga dapat aksyonan karon na di namo maaksyunan kay we need three-fourth votes (We have things we need to act upon but we cannot since we need three-fourth votes),” he added.
Among the present city councilors Tuesday were Maria Belen Acosta, Joanne Bonguyan-Quilos, Ma. Cherry Ann Bonguyan, Pilar Braga, Edgar Ibuyan Jr., Leah Librado-Yap, Rene Elias Lopez, Jafar Marohomsalic, Bonifacio Militar, Avegayle Ortiz, Antoinette Principe-Castrodes, J. Melchor Quitain, Mary Joselle Villafuerte and Jesus Joseph Zozobrado.