VM Belen: I will continue to protect Dagupan’s assets

By July 22, 2012Headlines, News

REORGANIZATION OR NOT

VICE Mayor Belen Fernandez, though clipped of much of her powers under the new rules in the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) in a cunning shift of loyalties in the council, has assured Dagupeños that she will continue to look after the city’s welfare.

“I am still here to protect their interest and the money of the people,” the vice mayor said after a privilege speech during the July 16 SP session, the first after the new rules were voted into an ordinance on July 11 in her absence.

Hindi kami umaatras kahit na nakita ko sa bagong house rules na tinanggalan ako ng powers na makapagtanong at mag-invite (ng mga resources speakers),” she added.

“I will continue to protect the money of Dagupan,” she intoned.

Meanwhile, Councilors Maybelyn Fernandez and Jeslito Seen, who did not join the new majority, stunned their colleagues when they refused any committee chairmanship and opted to be just plain members of the local legislative body.

The two said as members without committee chairmanships, they can perform their tasks as legislators freely without being restrained by the new set of rules and vowed to be more active in the deliberations.

Fernandez, the deposed majority floor leader, had declined to be the minority leader before she rejected her appointment as chairperson of the Population and Demography Committee of the SP.

On the other hand, Seen, former chairman of the powerful appropriations committee, refused his designation as chairman of the new People’s Participation committee.

All the other committees in the legislative body were divided among the nine majority councilors, including Councilor Alfie Fernandez who was elected the new Pro Tempore and allowed to retain his previous committees, laws and ordinances, and tourism.

The majority also assigned the chairmanship of the committee on laws and ordinances to Fernandez being the lone lawyer in the legislative body.

MATUWID NA DAAN

At the end of the vice mayor’s short privilege speech, she was applauded by people who packed the gallery watching the session.

I am just sending a message to them (councilors) that as their presiding officer and as vice mayor of the city of Dagupan susupurtahan ko pa rin ang mga councilors na nag-reorganize ng different (committee) chairmanships pag tama ang ginagawa,” Fernandez told newsmen later.

Fernandez believes the last straw that prompted the reorganization of the body was when she invited the police to shed light on the reported rampant hataw operations in Barangay Bonuan Binloc where a 12-year old girl was reportedly raped by a supposed “hataw” operator, and the invitation to Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Raul Laluan to shed light on the 30-hectare property bought by the city in Awai, San Jacinto for P16 million now placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Councilor Lim attempted but failed to stop the two invited resource persons from speaking.

The vice mayor said she will respect the reorganization effected by the body and called on her colleagues to always be guided by the dictum “matuwid na daan” in their actions.

“But I will continue to give my opinion on any issue. Gagawin ko pa rin yan,” she said.

She said Councilors Maybelyn Fernandez and Seen can do the same even without committee chairmanships.

Dapat pa ring magbantay sa ginagawa ng executive at sa lahat ng mga councilors sa Dagupan” she said.

Fernandez asserts that she cannot be prevented from attending committee hearings in the SP because even the public is allowed access to these.

She said that knowing developments at the committee level is part of her functions as presiding officer.

“Hindi ako makapagpre-preside na mabuti kung hindi ko alam ang nagyayari, kailangan kong malaman kung ano ang nangyari,” she said.

SP SETS NEW SESSION SKED

FOLLOWING the reorganization of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) in Dagupan, the new majority has set changes in the council’s procedures, including the schedule of sessions which is now every 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

In a press release issued by city hall, the council announced that the adoption of the Resolution No.  R-4954, authored by Sangguniang Pangkabataan representative John Chester Gonzales, amending section 29 of the new house rules, moving the previous 4 p.m. schedule to 2 p.m.

He pointed out that the session time was changed in consideration of the mandated 8-5 work time for the rank-and-file staff of the council.

Meanwhile Councilor Red Erfe Mejia, who moved for the revamp of council last week session, said the vice mayor’s positive response to the reorganization is a sign of the unity he and his colleagues had long been hoping for.

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