CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama had vetoed several ordinances that the City Council had approved.
Now that he is serving a six-month preventive suspension, some councilors took the opportunity to refile and reintroduce the ordinances they authored which the mayor rejected, particularly measures that oversee the executive department.
Councilor Rey Gealon submitted to the council again the approved ordinance that requires the bidding process undertaken by the bids and awards committee (BAC) to be livestreamed, while Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos pushed to override Rama’s veto on the ordinance she authored allowing the legislative department to conduct an investigation, including issuing subpoena to concerned officials.
Gealon’s ordinance
The council approved on Aug. 16, 2023 the measure authored by Gealon called “Live Streaming of the Bidding Process of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the City of Cebu.”
The ordinance stipulates that the whole bidding process – the pre-procurement conference, the pre-bid conference and the opening of bids – would be livestreamed, from start to finish, on the City’s social media platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook, and on its official website.
Gealon and the rest of the council approved the measure in the spirit of “transparency and accountability.”
“Illegal”
However, Rama vetoed the approved ordinance on Sept. 5 that same year as he deemed it “illegal,” saying the measure violates the Data Privacy Act of 2012, supersedes the implementing rules and regulations of the Government Procurement Reform Act and compromises the general welfare clause provided under the Local Government Code.
Gealon recently refiled the vetoed ordinance, which he said is relevant amid the controversy surrounding the procurements for the Palarong Pambansa 2024, which the City will be hosting in July.
“It is both apt and appropriate in the midst of allegations of questionable procurements for the Palarong Pambansa in order to render justice and fairness not only to the government officials involved, but to all parties concerned -- especially to the Cebuano people whose taxes we are spending for these procurements,” he said in a message last May 27.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, last May, ordered a three-day suspension and review of all Palaro-related purchases being undertaken by the BAC.
Gealon said he is willing to go an extra mile in the plenary to get his ordinance approved.
City Ordinance 2673
De los Santos filed a resolution in the council last Wednesday, May 29, to override Rama’s veto on City Ordinance (CO) 2673, or the Procedure in the Conduct of Investigation in Aid of Legislation.
The council approved it on Dec. 21, 2022, only for Rama to veto it on Jan. 19, 2023.
CO 2673 is a measure that grants the council authority to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation, issue a subpoena testificandum and subpoena duces tecum, and charge with contempt any person who refuses to obey the process.
Rama vetoed the ordinance, saying contempt and subpoena powers both partake of a judicial nature. He also said that it is prejudicial to the public welfare.
Uncooperative officials
De los Santos, in her proposed resolution, felt the need to implement the measure, saying there have been several occasions that the council encountered frustrations with officials under the executive department “who are adamant and uncooperative” when being invited for query on certain issues affecting their offices which the council deems fit for inquiry in aid of legislation.
“After several supervening events, herein movant find it fitting to urge her honorable colleagues of the same 16th Sangguniang Panlungsod to revisit and ponder on the current inutile state and haplessness of this council to exact transparency and accountability among officials and employees in the City’s transactions, thereby necessitating a dynamic exercise of legislative oversight,” she said.
She later deferred the approval of the measure for the council’s next regular session on Wednesday, June 4. / JJL