THE Municipal Government of Moises Padilla has sought the help of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Negros Occidental Provincial Board (PB) amid woes on the approval of its 2022 annual budget.
The local government, in a press statement, said the majority of their Sangguniang Bayan (SB) members are unable to attend the session.
In her letter addressed to DILG Secretary Eduardo Año dated October 27, 2021, Mayor Ella Celestina Garcia-Yulo requested the agency’s legal opinion.
Garcia-Yulo said they only have six active members as the four others are currently detained at the Moises Padilla Municipal Police Station and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Bacolod City.
Another councilor, she said, is currently on leave with a pending warrant of arrest.
”The six remaining members include the acting vice mayor who becomes the presiding officer during a session leaving only five members who are authorized to vote,” Garcia-Yulo said.
The mayor is also seeking a possible course of action that the municipal government may take in case the council lacks the required number of members present to act on the 2022 annual budget approval.
The request of the mayor to Año came after she made the same request to DILG-Western Visayas on September 13, 2021.11.3
They have yet to receive a response from the latter.
The mayor, in the statement, further said that if the budget is reenacted, government programs will be impaired which will affect their residents.
Garcia-Yulo said that the three councilors and the vice mayor are about to bail, which they are waiting for, and that the DILG should already take action on their present situation.
Meanwhile, the SB issued Resolution No. 2021-535 on October 27, 2021, requesting the PB to help the municipality in resolving the issue of temporary vacancies in the council which cannot constitute a majority vote of all its members when needed due to legal reasons as provided under Section 46 of Republic Act 7160.
It can be recalled that in August of this year, Moises Padilla Vice Mayor Adrian Villaflor and town councilor Jimmie Don Plaza surrendered to Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer.
They are currently detained at the NBI while Councilors Vincent Bryan Garcia and Jose Morito Flores surrendered to the town’s police station.
All four are allegedly involved in the murder of Councilor Member Jolomar Hilario in 2019.
A warrant of arrest was also served by the Philippine National Police to Councilor Fred Bangcaya Sr. on October 28, for a rape case, in his place of residence but he was nowhere to be found.
The warrant was signed by Acting Presiding Judge Anthony Ateniao Dumpilo of RTC Branch 64 in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. (PR)