Minority invokes Article 107 in adopting new house rules
MAJORITY BLOC NEUTRALIZED
THE minority bloc in the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) invoked Article 107 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the Local Government Code in rejecting the opposition’s claim that the supposed amendment to the SP house rules on October 17, 2023 is valid.
Article 107 dictates that such a claim must be made in the form of a resolution, not merely by a simple written manifestation.
Councilor Michael Fernandez pointed this out to refute the claim of the majority that house rules can only be amended through a 2/3 vote of the members.
Paragraph (b) of Article 107 states: “Proposed ordinance and resolutions shall be in writing and shall contain an assigned number, as title or caption, an enacting and ordaining clause, and the date of the proposed effectivity. In addition, every proposed ordinance shall be accompanied by a brief explanatory note containing the justification for its approval.”
Reacting to Councilor Alfie Fernandez’s claim that the minority bloc adopted the house rules and elected its floor leader without the required 2/3 vote as provided for in the house rules, Councilor Michael Fernandez said records showed the amendment claimed by the majority violated Article 107.
The majority also refused to file a resolution reinstating the old house rules and installing Councilor Librada Reyna back as majority floor leader, aware that to do so would be a tacit admission that the new house rules adopted by the minority was legit from the day the three councilors were slapped with 60-day preventive suspension by the Office of the President.
When all the motions made by the opposition were rejected by Vice Mayor and Presiding Officer Bryan Kua, that resulted in a stalemate in the local legislative body, preventing it from acting on any measure in the agenda.
Confronted with the Article 107 of the IRR of the Local Government Code, Councilor Alfie Fernandez decided to merely raise the lack of quorum of the body since November 5 to transact business, an issue that was promptly rebutted by the minority bloc citing the legal opinion of the Department of the Interior and Local Government on determining a quorum. (Leonardo Micua)
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