BACOLOD City Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. assailed Councilor Caesar Distrito for saying there is no need for another public hearing on the proposed House Bill 51875, declaring June 18 as non-working public holiday in the city.
“I owe it to the people of Bacolod City that when confronted with issues concerning their interest and welfare, I will be a councilor who will be judicious, apprised, properly informed and enlightened,” Gamboa said in a press statement yesterday.
On November 9, Gamboa conducted a public hearing on the proposed House Bill No. 5857 declaring June 18 of every year as the Bacolod City Charter Day, instead of October 19 of every year provided in Republic Act 7724), filed by Representative Greg Gasataya.
Gamboa, chairperson of committee on history, culture and arts, said there is no rule or any provision in the internal rules or any law that prohibits any member of the City Council to conduct a public hearing on matters involving public interest, more so, if the issue is related to his/her committee.
“It was clearly a public hearing that called for individuals with differing opinions on the proposed bill so I can be comprehensively apprised, properly informed and enlightened prior to formulating an official stand or position on the matter,” he said.
He added that Distrito might have been confused by the rule that only docketed correspondences can be deliberated, discussed or acted on the floor.
“He might also be confused thinking that the topic discussed in that November 9 public hearing was in connection with a ‘resolution principally sponsored by him expressing full support to the House Bill No. 5875. That was not the case when I conducted the public hearing. The invitation sent to resource persons for the hearing absolutely made no reference to the correspondence of his Resolution docketed SP Resolution 09-17-1153 passed on October 9, 2017,” Gamboa said.
Distrito, along with allies Councilors Dindo Ramos, Em Ang and Cindy Rojas, also issued a statement Tuesday, November 15, saying that nobody will question Gamboa’s sacred duty if it is within the provisions of the law and the internal rules of the City Council.
The four councilors said that Section 1 of Rule VI of the Internal Rules of Procedure of the Sanggunian provides that, “a committee may consider, investigate and take action on matters that are assigned by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (City Council).”
“What he did was a blatant display of disrespect to the policy-making body in which he is a part of given that the subject matter of his public hearing was never referred to his committee. Gamboa failed to ask for an authority from the Sanggunian to conduct such hearing in aid of legislation, in effect, he disregarded the authority of the august body. We perform our duty under the principle that the Sangguniang Panlungsod is a collegial body,” they added.
“We wish to remind Gamboa that there is no confusion as to the application of the internal rules, as he claimed in his interviews. In fact, we even cited the rules to remind him that the matter should be appropriately assigned or referred first to the committee before he can take action on it and not the other way around,” the councilors further said.