IF GIVEN the chance, vice governor-elect and outgoing Gov. Hilario Davide III would like to lead the health committee of the Provincial Board.
He said he would like to focus on providing health care to residents of the province.
However, there may be others who have set their eyes on the same committee.
Vice governors and vice mayors act as presiding officers of their respective provincial boards and councils. Presiding officers can only vote to break a tie.
The Cebu PB’s house rules have no provision that allows a presiding officer to chair a committee. Section 8 of House Rule 2, however, states that the presiding officer shall be an ex-officio member of all standing committees.
Outgoing Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale was tourism committee chairperson.
According to Davide, he will study what kind of ordinances he will author because the PB has passed several ordinances on health. He will also consult his team.
As incoming presiding officer, Davide will meet with reelected and newly elected PB members on June 10, majority of whom are allied with governor-elect Gwen Garcia.
Agenda
Davide said they will first tackle the rules and procedures in conducting a session because he was told by PB Secretary Pulchra Acevedo there is a need to review them.
PB members will then determine which rules to amend and to adopt for the new term.
The 15th PB will be composed of 14 elected and three ex-officio members.
Reelected were PB Members Yolanda Daan and Raul Bacaltos of the first district; Edsel Galeos and Jose Mari Salvador, second district; Victoria “Tata” Corominas-Toribio, third district; Horacio Paul Franco, fourth district; Miguel Antonio Magpale, fifth district; Thadeo Jovito Ouano, sixth district; and Jerome Christian Librando and Christopher Baricuatro, seventh district.
First-time PB members are John Ismael Borgonia, third district; Kerrie Keane Shimura, fourth district; Andrei Duterte, fifth district; and Glenn Anthony Soco, sixth district.
Daan and Bacaltos are members of the Nacionalista Party, while Galeos, Borgonia, Duterte, Ouano and Soco belong to the One Cebu/Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). Shimura is a National Unity Party member.
They are allied with Garcia, who is outgoing third district congresswoman.
Salvador, Librando and Baricuatro are members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Baricuatro left the party before the midterm elections last May 13 because his father was a mayoral candidate under One Cebu/PDP-Laban.
Franco belongs to the Liberal Party (LP), while Magpale’s son Miguel Antonio belongs to the Barug Alang sa Kauswagan ug Demokrasya (Bakud) Party.
NPC and Bakud support Davide, an LP member.
Toribio, for her part, ran as an independent.
The PB’s ex-officio members are Sangguniang Kabataan Cebu Federation president Jerico Rubio, Liga ng mga Barangay Cebu chapter president Celestino Martinez III and the incoming president of the Philippine Councilors League (PCL) Cebu chapter. (From SCG of SuperBalit Cebu, KAL)