Seares: Is Cebu Vice Guv Glenn Soco gagged and tied, as Junjun Davide was in 2019, when Provincial Board rules prohibited its presiding officer from taking part in legislative discussion?
QUICK LOOK
[] One-Cebu dominates PB despite Gwen Garcia's loss of the governorship. It may lift the ban for its own Vice Guv Glenn, if it hadn't done so for then vice guv Junjun.
[] Two board members -- Raul Bacaltos and Horacio Paul Franco -- wanted the Provincial Board's Internal Rules (IRP) amended to correct the "unfairness" to Davide and future vice governors. It's not known if the PB passed Bacaltos's December 2019 resolution and Gwen signed it.
[] Davide complained he had nothing to report in his first 100 days of his 2019-2022 vice guv term. After that though, Junjun seemed content with "doing nothing but to bang the gavel."
THE DAVIDE EXPERIENCE. Remember when Hilario "Junjun" Davide III complained he had done "nothing but bang the gavel" in his first 100 days as vice governor and presiding officer of the Cebu Provincial Board after the 2019 election?
I wrote then in an October 16, 2019 column: "He was silenced, gagged, his hand tied to the gavel, but only to pound it on the table where he presides..." ("Seares: Gagging the vice governor: PB rules can do it, did it. Junjun can only protest.")
Three elections ago, Gwen Garcia beat Agnes Magpale with 58 percent of the vote (887,000 plus) against Magpale's 39 percent (598,000 plus). But Gwen's teammate Daphne Salimbangon lost to Magpale's running mate Junjun Davide, thus creating a crack at the Capitol's top leadership: a governor, Gwen, with a One-Cebu-dominated Provincial Board presided over by an opposition vice governor, Junjun.
'I'VE GOT YOUR BACK, GWEN.' Junjun Davide nominally remained with the opposition then but he soon became friendly and supportive to Guv Gwen's rule through most of his two-term stint as No. 2 official, without formally defecting to One Cebu.
In the 2022 election, Davide still ran under the opposition ticket and handily won over One Cebu bet Doc Tess Heyrosa, with Ace Durano facing and losing monumentally (80.80 percent against 18.66 percent) to Gwen.
Davide's unofficial alliance with Guv Gwen had continued even as Junjun, term-limited, ran for second district congressman and lost to One Cebu reelectionist Edsel Galeos.
Junjun's parting message to Gwen when she exited the Capitol last June 30, 2025 -- after the "massive upset" pulled by Pam Baricuatro in the last May election -- was laudatory. Earlier, on the dispute over the BRT project's alleged threat to Capitol's historical landmark, he told Gwen, "I got your back, Guv."
2019 BAN ON PRESIDING OFFICER. The first order of business when the 2019-2022 PB held its inaugural session included an amendment of its IRP or internal rules of procedure, commonly called House rules.
The ban, clearly directed against the opposition's Junjun, was agreed upon by One Cebu board members before they assumed office July 1, 2019 and formally "rushed" to pass on its maiden session.
The Provincial Board's IRP, or House rules, was amended to read, in paragraph B, section 1, Rule 2., thus: "The vice governor as chairman and presiding officer, cannot take part in the deliberation of the Body except only as to preside over the Body and to vote in case of a tie."
The rule was so specific as to include this: "As vice governor, he cannot step down and vacate his position as chairman and presiding officer for purposes of sponsoring a resolution or ordinance nor for participating in the deliberation of a resolution, ordinance or any other related official business or matter of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan."
IS THAT RULE STILL IN PB STATUTE BOOKS? News archives show stories reporting that at least two board members expressed their wish to have the rule amended as it was "unfair" to Davide.
In a December 8, 2019 story, then BM Raul Bacaltos of the first district -- filing on December 2, 2019 a resolution to amend the rule -- said the amendment would allow the presiding officer to sponsor a resolution or ordinance, ask questions, and make suggestions during plenary discussions, a provision found in previous House rules.
Outright unfair to silence Davide, the House rule was, Bacaltos said. "Harshly worded," said then fourth district Board Member Horacio Paul Franco, "si Vice Guv Junjun di gyud maka-istorya." (The two are no longer with the board, their term expired June 30, 2025.)
The amendment plan was to be discussed with then Guv Gwen but the news archives, as of this writing, didn't show what happened after that.
No news report then and recently -- if there is, it has escaped our research -- about the House rule on the vice governor's role in presiding sessions. Is it the same as when Junjun Davide assumed office as vice governor in 2019?
IF THE RULE IS THE SAME, SOCO COULD BE RESTRICTED the same way Junjun Davide was. New Vice Governor Glenn Anthony Soco, irony of ironies, would be hamstrung by a rule created by his own party One Cebu and intended against its opposition.
One Cebu, which controls the Provincial Board, however, can amend the IRP provision or strike it down. Thirteen of 20 members, counting presiding officer Soco, carry the One Cebu party name. Excluded are others who are supposedly non-partisan or bear some other party name but politically supported or still support Gwen.
The amendment may have been done already, with no publicity or less noise than the gag's enforcement once set off. And Vice Guv Glenn Soco and future PB presiding officers no longer will be curtailed, as Junjun Davide was. (News media may have "under-covered" the PB, since for many years now Capitol news have come mostly from the governor's office.)
The rule could still be untouched, as the plan to amend could've been forgotten. Junjun Davide was reported at the time to be "not keen" about changing the House rule, because it made his work "much lighter," and, of course, he was already being chummy with the governor. He no longer felt he was fettered or cuffed although, in his first post-100-days comment, he blamed the gag for his shortage of accomplishments.
VG HAS SAME POWERS AS ANY OTHER MEMBER. Had the legal question about the vice governor's right to take part in functions of PB members reached the court, he would have the law and the high court ruling on his side.
It would seem that nobody, not even Junjun, just had the wish or courage to tangle with then governor Gwen.
The Supreme Court -- in La Carlota City, Negros Occidental vs. Atty. Rex Rojo (GR#181367, April 24, 2012) -- said that under the Local Government Code of 1991, the presiding officer (vice governor or vice mayor) is considered a member of the Sanggunian and as such is included in determining a quorum. And as member, he holds the rights of a member, such as taking part in legislative functions, on top of his duties as a presiding officer.
Specifically excluding the vice governor -- starting in the Cebu Provincial Board only when Davide assumed the position -- apparently frustrated the intent of the law regarding the vice governor's duties.
PB POLICY STOOD OUT. The Cebu PB s anti-opposition rule stood out, because the intent and spirit of the law as interpreted by the SC was negated and the other LGUs nearby did not adopt it.
In Cebu City, for example, Vice Mayor Tomas Osme a can step down from the presiding officer's chair and take part in the deliberation or defend his resolution or ordinance, just like any other member.