City Hall, SP in conflict over SOCA venue
SO where will the State of the City Address (SOCA) be?
Yet another point of contention has cropped up between Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim and the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
At presstime, Lim reportedly plans to carry on with his plan to deliver his SOCA at the People’s Astrodome on February 14.
The SP, meanwhile, has already issued letters of invitation to witness the SOCA at the SP session hall on the same date.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chairman of the SP, said legislative body has prepared the welcome protocol for Lim and at the same time warned that the council will not allow any proxy to deliver the SOCA for the mayor.
In her letter to city hall department heads, she cited Chapter 3, Article 1, Section 455, item iii of the Local Government Code states that the city mayor must “present the program of government and propose policies and projects for the consideration of the Sangguniang Panlungsod at the opening of the regular session of the sangguniang panlungsod every calendar year and as often as may be deemed necessary as the general welfare of the inhabitants and the needs of the city government may require…”
The executive and legislative branches of the city exchanged heated communication in the last two weeks over the venue for the mayor’s SOCA.
Lim wants to deliver his SOCA at the Astrodome, citing the precedent when his predecessor, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr., did this on January 26, 2010.
At the same time, City Administrator Vlad Mata also argued that the SP session hall is too small to accommodate the audience invited by the mayor to listen to the SOCA.
Fernandez acknowledged that the former mayor did deliver his SOCA at the Astrodome last year but emphasized that this was upon the initiative and invitation of the council.
LETTERS
Lim first sent a letter to the SP on 18 January 2011, stating: “Pursuant to Section 455, (b), (1), (iii), of Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, may I be privileged to inform that honorable body that I intend to deliver my State-of-the-City-Address on Monday of the current month, or on 31 January 2011, at 10:00 a.m. at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome x x x
The majority in the SP considers this a mere letter of information that the mayor is delivering his SOCA and invoking his duty to do so under the Local Government Code and not an invitation.
On January 24, the vice mayor sent a reply offering the mayor to deliver his SOCA during the SP regular session “in the halls of the chosen representatives of the people of Dagupan City”.
Two days later, Lim sent another letter informing the SP that he will deliver his SOCA on February 7, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at the Museu na Dagupan, changing the first venue he mentioned, and inviting the council to grace the event.
Again on February 2, Lim sent another letter to the SP announcing the postponement of his SOCA to February 14 as he intended to attend the delivery of the State-of-the-Province-Address of Governor Amado Espino Jr. on February 7. He also advised that the venue for his SOCA was changed from the museum back to the Astrodome.
In their session last February 7, Fernandez directed City Secretary Jorge Estrada to convey the SP majority’s preference to hear Lim’s SOCA at the SP session hall on the day and time the mayor stated in his latest letter.
In his reply dated February 10, 2011, Lim appealed to the SP to reconsider its position, citing that Section 455, (b), (1), (iii) of RA 7160 does not specifically limit the holding of the regular session to the SP session hall, and that the local officials can choose an alternative venue “for the sake of our common loyalty and commitment to our city”.
Meanwhile, City Administrator Vlad Mata issued a circular to city hall employees advising them that the invitation letter of the vice mayor to various departments was concocted “to sabotage” the SOCA and that it did not come from the vice mayor herself.
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