Absentee councilors to be bodily carried from home to session
Wanted: active and dedicated councilors for Dagupan City!
Apparently most of the city’s councilors who were elected on their promises to serve the city heartily do not feel obligated to fulfill them. They continue to be absent and late in regular and special sessions.
Fed up with the increasing delinquency by city councilors and a decline in the performance of the their sworn duties, Vice Mayor and Sangguniang Panlungsod presiding officer Alvin Fernandez has decided to adopt a drastic measure to compel the attendance of the habitual absentees.
After another quorum-less session last Monday, Fernandez ordered the SP secretary to write the police and the Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) to bodily carry councilors from their home to the session hall to ensure their attendance.
Only three councilors responded to the roll call last Monday, prompting Fernandez to adjourn the session. Those present were Councilors Farah Decano, Danilo Torio and Jose Netu Tamayo.
Recorded absent up were Councilors Michael Fernandez, Teofilo Guadiz III, Librada Reyna, Luis Samson Jr., Nicanor Aquino, Charise Perez and Eric Muñoz.
Councilor Vlad Mata is on one-year study leave while Councilor Alex de Venecia is on an official travel to Cebu.
Vice Mayor Fernandez said that it is within his power as presiding officer to direct the sergeant at arms to bodily carry absenting councilors to the session hall, even from their homes.
The usually tolerant vice mayor said he will start cracking the whip and impose sanctions against errant members of the SP “who may have forgotten that they have a duty to serve the people.”
Earlier, Councilor de Venecia filed a resolution seeking to amend the SP rules and procedures and impose P1,000 fine for each absence and P500 for tardiness on delinquent councilors.
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